Pride parade returns in London on 50th anniversary

By MIKE FULLER
Associated Press

LONDON (AP) — Hundreds of thousands of people have turned out on the streets of London to mark the 50th anniversary of the U.K.’s first Pride parade, filling the streets of the British capital with color. A vibrant crowd turned out to either take part in or watch the festivities to form a spectacle of rainbow flags, glitter and sequins. The parade came a half-century after the U.K’s first march to celebrate Pride in 1972 in London and after two years of cancellations because of the coronavirus pandemic. Saturday’s procession took on a similar route to the original. It started outside Hyde Park and toured the streets towards Westminster. The London mayor’s office said that more than 1 million revelers attended the celebrations.