The Paris Pride parade’s route has been cut in half this year due to security concerns in the wake of the Orlando shooting, which claimed the lives of 49 and injured dozens more.
The parade, known as la marche des fiertés in French, will take place July 2. The route will run 2.5 kilometers (just over 1.5 miles) along the River Seine from the Louvre to Bastille, instead of from Montparnasse to Bastille as planned.
The LGBT community is understandably displeased.
“Giving in to fear, giving in the LGBT-phobes, this is just giving up on our struggles, our battles, our rights to live, and our diversity,” said one statement, from the LGBT rights group Acthe. “Giving in to fear is letting terrorism win.”
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Brigitte Goldberg, the president of Trans-Europe, said that “everything has been done to minimize the significance of the event.”
Bryan Pirolli, who runs the Paris tour group The Gay Locals, told The Local that he understands the concerns but questions whether such measures would be taken cutting short other events out of safety concerns.
“It seems to be sending the wrong message, like we are giving into the fear, and I’m a little disappointed,” he said. “Still, I am proud of how Paris expressed solidarity with Orlando after the shootings, and I hope that message still comes through loud and clear during the march, however short it will be.”
Paris responded to the Orlando mass shooting with vigils and by lighting the Eiffel Tower with rainbow colors and the message “#lovewins.”
Eiffel Tower lit up for Orlando #LoveWins pic.twitter.com/21Ak0el9fo
— theresa ma 🥔 (@mapotato) June 13, 2016
The parade has already been delayed by a week, due to Euro 2016 already stretching Paris’ police force. Police wanted to push the parade back to September. The current agreement comes after two weeks of negotiations between police and LGBT rights groups.
Paris was the sight of a terror attack in November of last year that claimed the lives of 130 people and injured hundreds more. It was one of the worst terrorist attacks in the country’s history.
The Paris Pride parade event begins at 2 p.m. on July 2, with the march kicking off at 2:30 p.m. A concert will take place from 4 p.m. to 10 p.m. at the end of the parade route.
Watch footage from last year’s event below.
