Tens of thousands of people celebrated Rio de Janeiro's annual gay pride parade at Copacabana beach on Sunday. Under a blazing sun, revelers wearing feathery costumes and wigs held up rainbow flags and danced along the promenade as music blasted from half a dozen sound trucks.
The celebration was often interrupted by scuffles throughout the parade as police chased suspected thieves who targeted the large crowds to steal jewelry and cell phones. At one point, fed-up beach-goers watching the parade grabbed one suspect and beat him. The man managed to escape before police arrived. Police were seen detaining other suspects but have not yet released how many have been detained at Sunday's event.
The crowd enjoyed musical performances over sound trucks placed along Copacabana's famous seaside boulevard. The parade was also used to raise awareness of gay rights, safe sex, and the rising number of gay people killed. Some activists placed a coffin next to a rainbow flag and asked for peace. They were wearing t-shirts with the number 300, same number of deaths of gays in Brazil in 2016.
Many countries use their Pride celebrations to highlight and push for a specific movement in the community. Brazil had recognized Marriage Equality as law back in 2013 so that was not needed to be the main focus of the event.
According to a statement released by organizers, this year's event focused on passing legislation that would allow adults to legally change their gender on their identity documents and eliminate bureaucracy involved in sex reassignment surgery.
