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1. that about half of the people arrtseed were juveniles, and most of the suspects were expected only to face fines on charges of disturbing public order. The attackers were not identified as part of any organized group. At least 300 people were taking part in the march, which was part of a cultural event, Gay Fest 2007, in the city. The marchers were under the protection of at least 400 police officers. The march was organized by Accept, a Romanian gay-rights advocacy group. Comments by Maxim Anmeghichean, ILGA-Europe’s Programmes Director from Bucharest Pride A counter march took part in the morning of Saturday with some 300 people, extreme right, neo-nazis and Orthodox priests together screaming «no to faggots» and carrying homophobic slogans. They were met on the way of the march by left activists (not ACCEPT) with posters saying «All Different – All Equal». This is where the clashes occured.The march itself started at 17:00, and some 400 participants took part, LGBT and their supporters, protected by some 800 policemen. It lasted for 1,5 hours, and attempts were made by extreme right to «intervene» in the march and attack the participants. But the police did a very professional work, and being in the march one could only hear the incidents and not see them. The participants were guarded by tall iron police trucks on one side, which, being literally half a meter behind each other, formed a protection fence, behind which most of the violence occured. And hundreds of policemen stood on the other side of the march, also forming a «live fence of protection». Knowing that most of the attacks on the LGBT community happened last year in the metro stations after the end of the march, the police was heavily present there, and before alloing pride participants to get down into the metro, «cleared» it from neo-nazis and ensured safety. As of the end of Sunday, no reports of attacks on pride participants after the march were received.The day’s aftermath after both marches is some 100 neo-nazis arrtseed. Police promissed to bring charges against all of them, both criminal and administrative. ACCEPT’s vice-president Florin Buhuceanu in conversation with me said that the police this year performed its job very professionally. Having been there, I can say that the pride march was a big success (although due to fear of attacks participants were fewer by a hundred in comparison to last year), very colorful, empowering, and protected with much professionalism (one could really see the effort) by the police.Romanian example shows that prides can take place in hostile environments with minimal risks for its participants, if there is a political will. Russia, Moldova and a number of other countries certainly have a lot to learn. Great progress decriminalisation of homosexuality in Romania only in six years!