Right-wing extremists attacked the 1,500 marchers in Budapest’s Pride parade and fought with police for several hours afterward July 5.

Hundreds of counterdemonstrators reportedly threw rocks, eggs, bottles, firecrackers, feces, acid, paint and Molotov cocktails at the marchers and the police. They also set a police van on fire and damaged three media trucks.

At least 45 of the attackers were arrested. Riot police unleashed tear gas and water cannons on the protesters at points during the mile-long march down Andrássy Road.

At least 25 people were injured, including 17 of the 2,100 police officers protecting the event.

A post-parade concert was canceled.

“There was one street where literally a shower of eggs and stones was poured on us,” said activist Gábor Kuszing. “I was lucky to have a placard in my hand, and others used umbrellas.”

A rock crashed through the window of a car carrying Hungarian Euro MP Katalin Lévai.

“It is unacceptable in our democracies that microscopic groups of the extreme right may threaten and attack an important minority while it practices the universal right to freedom,” Lévai said. “We must step up against groups advocating hatred and violence.”

The European Parliament’s Intergroup on Gay and Lesbian Rights denounced the violence and the fact that it was allowed to occur.

“I am deeply disappointed and concerned of Hungary’s inability to deal with extremists,” said Intergroup President Michael Cashman. “This must be referred to the European Commission and the commission’s president.”

Intergroup Vice President Sirpa Pietikäinen said: “Police forces again, like last year, failed to protect citizens exercising their fundamental rights to peaceful assembly, probably due to inadequate resources. I will demand an explanation from the Hungarian government and I will raise this issue with the European Commission.”

Around half a million people turned out for London’s Pride parade July 5, led by Mayor Boris Johnson, who wore a pink cowboy hat.

Members of the British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Air Force marched in uniform. The Ministry of Defence offered free travel for servicemembers who wanted to attend the parade.

Well-known activist Peter Tatchell carried a poster with a doctored, gayed-up photo of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

“Ahmadinejad leads a regime that arrests, jails, flogs, tortures and sometimes executes gay people,” Tatchell said.

MP Harriet Harman, minister of equality and deputy leader of the Labour Party, reportedly was booed as she spoke from the main stage at Trafalgar Square.

Tatchell said the crowd was unhappy over the UK’s treatment of gay asylum-seekers from homophobic nations.

Prior to the parade, Prime Minister Gordon Brown met with activists, including actor Sir Ian McKellen, at his residence.

They discussed homophobic bullying in schools, and Brown’s spokesman said he was “delighted” to have met with the group.

Led by Equality Minister Bibiano Aido, hundreds of thousands of GLBT people marched in Madrid’s Pride parade July 5.

This year’s theme was “Lesbian Visibility.”

The Socialist Party of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez entered a double-decker bus in the parade.

Spain is one of six nations where same-sex marriage has been legalized.

Openly gay Berlin Mayor Klaus Wowereit said July 9 he would be “delighted” for Barack Obama to speak at the city’s famed Brandenburg Gate.

Although no firm plans have been made, Obama’s campaign inquired about the procedures for such a speech during an upcoming European trip by the Democratic U.S. presidential candidate.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, however, said she doubts it would be appropriate to use the gate as a campaign backdrop.

The Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe plans to issue a formal declaration in support of GLBT rights and to engage the entire organization in combating discrimination against GLBT people.

Activists called the move groundbreaking. The committee is composed of the foreign ministers of the CoE’s 47 member nations.

The ministers will address the need to ensure respect for the human rights of GLBT people, instruct an intergovernmental expert committee to examine measures to avoid discrimination against gay couples, and instruct all committees involved in intergovernmental cooperation to propose specific actions to strengthen GLBT equality.

“Much of the credit for this great step forward goes to LGBT human rights defenders in Central and Eastern Europe,” said Nigel Warner, adviser to the CoE for the European Region of the International Lesbian and Gay Association.

“Their courageous work in advocating for LGBT rights has revealed the appalling extent of homophobia and transphobia in many countries, and shocked the Council of Europe into taking action,” Warner said.

Assistance: Bill Kelley