Watchdog

Several thousand people have marched in gay pride events in Poland, Croatia, and Italy to urge support for minority rights.

The parades in Warsaw and Zagreb came amid mounting right-wing sentiments that pose new challenges to gay rights activists.

In Zagreb, former Interior Minister Ranko Ostojic and several well-known public figures joined a pride event called Croatia Is Not Over Yet.

Rights activists have warned that Croatia has been moving to the right under a conservative government that came to power in January.

In Poland, there also are concerns for minority rights under a right-wing government that came to power in November.

Based on reporting by AP and Reuters

An LGBTI rights march has been held in the Ukrainian capital without any major incidents amid a large police presence.

According to reports, 6,000 police officers escorted around 1,000 participants in the March of Equality on June 12.

The Swedish Ambassador to Ukraine Andreas von Beckerath, Rebecca Harms, president of the Greens at the European Parliament, and Serhiy Leshchenko, a member of the Ukrainian parliament attended the march.

More than 30 people were arrested by police prior to and during the march.

Ten marchers and five policemen were injured at the gay pride rally in 2015 when counterdemonstrators attacked the march, despite the presence of U.S. and European diplomats at the event.

At this year's march, participants passed through a metal detector and were checked for dangerous objects.

Earlier in March, an LGBTI event in Lviv was cancelled after some 200 far-right protesters surrounded the venue shouting, “Kill, kill, kill.”

Two weeks ago, Artem Skoropadskiy, a spokesman for the far-right Right Sector movement, predicted on Facebook that "on June 12 in Kyiv there will be a bloody mess."

LIVE FEED: Kyiv March Of Equality (RFE/RL's Ukrainian Service, natural sound):

Based on reporting by AFP, RFE/RL’s Current Time TV and RFE/RL’s Ukrainian Service