Because of the coronavirus pandemic, a studio with a live stage was set up in the House of Statistics on the central Alexanderplatz.

Around 30 organizations and representatives of different lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer (LGBTIQ) groups took part in the multimedia event under the motto “Don’t hide your Pride!”

“In our city, in our country, we must not accept that there are [homophobic] attacks,” Berlin Mayor Michael Mueller said in front of a rainbow banner at City Hall, known as the Red City Hall because of its colour. “There is trans and homophobia, there is exclusion, there is violence.”

The vice president of the German lower house, or Bundestag, Claudia Roth of the opposition Greens, called for “equal rights and not just a bit of equal rights.” The suppression of homosexuals in Eastern European countries should not be forgotten, she said.

While the afternoon programme mainly presented initiatives and their goals, entertainment with music was planned for the evening.

On YouTube, where the event was broadcast, comments were received every second. “Totally unusual not to be there directly,” wrote one viewer.

Some smaller demos were nonetheless held physically in the German capital. A “Dyke March” with around 1,000 registered participants made its way from the Neptune Fountain at Alexanderplatz to the Brandenburg Gate. The demonstrators wore clothes decorated with rainbow flags.

“It’s all peaceful,” a police spokeswoman said in the afternoon.

Pride visibly celebrates LGBTIQ rights every year and in Germany is known as Christopher Street Day, or CSD, marking the time at the end of June 1969 when LGBTIQ New Yorkers fought back against police who had stormed the Stonewall Inn bar on Christopher Street in the city.