Ukrainian LGBT community will hold another March of Equality in Kyiv in mid-June, the spokesman KyivPride of Zoryan Kys told the publication 44.ua on Monday.
"We have agreed with The National Council that the March will be held on [Kyiv's thoroughfare] Khreshchatyk but are considering other options for choosing the route in case there will be more participants," he said.
Kys expects that the number of marchers will be much larger than in previous years: "While last year about 2 thousand people took part in the March, we expect about 5 thousand participants will join the march this year," he said.
Kys said that he has already began to receive threats on Facebook.
On 12 June last year, about 1,5 thousand people took part the March of Equality in Kyiv, according to police. The participants of the event in 20 minutes have marched from the central building of the National University to L. Tolstoy Sq. under the protection of 5,500 policemen and 1.2 thousand National Guards. 57 opponents of the march have been detained for hooliganism and violation of public order.
On 6 June, 2015, the Equality March held on Kyiv's Obolon Emb. was attacked by a group of radicals. The opponents threw firecrackers, stuffed with striking elements, and smoke bombs into the crowd of several hundreds of marchers, and pursued them in the adjoining streets after the event. In total, nine police officers were injured, including one policeman who obtained a serious shrapnel wound in the neck. Fortunately, none of gay activists was harmed.
After the clashes, 35 radicals were detained, most of whom were promptly released. Later, Kyiv's Obolon District Court has sentenced four attackers to suspended jail terms.
Previously, the representatives of the LGBT community have four times to arrange to a march in Kyiv, but only one attempt in 2013 was successful.