{"id":138006,"date":"2026-07-31T03:21:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T03:21:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/138006\/"},"modified":"2026-07-31T03:21:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T03:21:17","slug":"berlin-pride-attack-real-focus-for-uks-biggest-pride-festival-this-weekend-the-irish-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/138006\/","title":{"rendered":"Berlin Pride attack \u2018real focus\u2019 for UK\u2019s biggest Pride festival this weekend \u2013 The Irish News"},"content":{"rendered":"

The attack on Berlin Pride will be a \u201creal focal point\u201d at the UK\u2019s biggest Pride festival at the weekend, organisers have said.<\/p>\n

Brighton and Hove Pride comes just a week after a van and stabbing attack in the German capital left one person dead and injured at least 29 others.<\/p>\n

Speaking ahead of the events, managing director Paul Kemp told Press Association he knows the community are thinking of the people affected, and \u201cwe are coming out and we are not going away\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Kemp said: \u201cI think it\u2019s kind of poignant because this year our parade is the 35th anniversary, it\u2019s the power of love and I think it\u2019s really focused minds from a community perspective and the general climate of the feeling that LGBT rights are being rolled back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Berlin<\/a>\"Will<\/a><\/p>\n

He added one of his colleagues was in Berlin at the time and organisers will be speaking about it at the weekend.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year is reflecting on what\u2019s happened in Berlin, is really highlighting the journey and the importance of why we have pride.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"FlowersFlowers and rainbow flags placed in front of the Brandenburg Gate commemorating the victims of an attack on Saturday\u2019s Pride March (Markus Schreiber\/AP) (Markus Schreiber\/AP Photo\/Markus Schreiber) <\/p>\n

The first Brighton Pride march took place in July 1973, organised by the Sussex Gay Liberation Front.<\/p>\n

But only a small part of the community felt safe enough to take part, organisers have said, and Pride did not return to the seaside city again until 1991.<\/p>\n

For this milestone year, Brighton and Hove Pride seeks to honour early activists and \u201cremember the courage it took to be visible\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Kemp made Brighton his \u201cadopted home\u201d after he came to the city aged 17 and started his first punk club.<\/p>\n

\"BrightonBrighton and Hove Pride managing director Paul Kemp <\/p>\n

He has been managing director of the city\u2019s Pride since 2013 but first became involved with it as a club promoter for the first dance tent on The Level in the mid 1990s.<\/p>\n

Mr Kemp said: \u201cI think for a lot of probably older LGBT people like myself who remember being spat at in a parade, you know, 35 years ago, for example, that we are going to still come out and celebrate and show who we are and be who we are.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the attack in Berlin, he added: \u201cSo whilst it\u2019s a real focus, I think you know certainly for the people affected by it, I\u2019m sure they would be very pleased to know that we are coming out and we are not going away.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Pride boss also said it was the right decision for Sussex Police to include armed police as part of safety, as they have in previous years, because it is a \u201creassurance\u201d.<\/p>\n

The force had said that firearms officers are among uniformed and plain-clothed officers working at the event, which is \u201cstandard practice for events of this scale\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is all part of a comprehensive plan we have in place to ensure an effective policing operation, which has been months in the planning alongside the event organisers and partners,\u201d a force spokesperson added.<\/p>\n

\u201cPublic safety remains our top priority.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"(Matt Alexander\/PA) <\/p>\n

Mr Kemp said the planning is done all year round and is not a \u201cknee-jerk reaction\u201d.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe want people to come and have a great time, feel safe, and I think this is just one of the measures to ensure that people are reassured.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some 300,000 people are expected to take part or watch the parade while up to 450,000 people are estimated to turn out city-wide for Pride.<\/p>\n

The city is gearing up for the community parade fronted by activists through the streets on Saturday, more than 150 LGBT+ acts across the weekend and headliners \u201cour UK diva\u201d Raye and \u201ciconic\u201d Diana Ross for its Pride on the Park event.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s spanning the kind of generations of divas, let\u2019s say,\u201d Mr Kemp said.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t get much more iconic than Diana Ross.<\/p>\n

\u201cDiana Ross supported the LGBT community during the Aids crisis, the famous story about Nile Rodgers and the song I\u2019m Coming Out, how he wrote that song.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it really bookmarks the 35th anniversary really well, I think. We\u2019ve got lots more iconic acts on\u2026there\u2019s lots of things happening across the city.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr Kemp believes Pride in the open and inclusive city which celebrates its diversity is about celebration, protest, but also about the identity of Brighton and Hove as a place where people \u201clove to live\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think this weekend, it will be joyous, as it always is, especially the community parade where everyone comes together,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople come out to show their solidarity with the community and it\u2019s just an amazing thing.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The attack on Berlin Pride will be a \u201creal focal point\u201d at the UK\u2019s biggest Pride festival at…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":138007,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[99],"tags":[112,66683,66684,190,8878,45961,9317],"class_list":["post-138006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-berlin","tag-berlin","tag-brighton-and-hove","tag-brighton-and-hove-pride","tag-germany","tag-social","tag-south-east","tag-uk"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/117012443229842820","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=138006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/138007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=138006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=138006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=138006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}