Thousands celebrate Pride in downtown Toronto Sunday

Balloons, confetti and bubbles filled the air as thousands of people came together in downtown Toronto on Sunday for one of the biggest annual Pride celebrations in Canada, although the event abruptly ended as it was close to being over after a pro-Palestinian demonstration blocked the route.

The Toronto Pride Parade marked the culmination of a month's worth of events celebrating the city's LGBTQ+ community, with some attendees calling the event a symbol of friendship.

"It gets better every year, it multiplies, we love each other," said Stephen Storey, who is celebrating his 22nd Pride in Toronto.

But late in the afternoon as the parade was nearing the end, Toronto Police posted on social media that a demonstration during the parade had caused a disruption, and that the parade was "paused temporarily."

Demonstrators sat in the middle of Yonge Street, one group with a Palestinian flag, others holding banners reading "Pride partners with genocide" and "Stop pinkwashing."

Later, Pride Toronto posted on X that the remainder of the parade was cancelled. The post offered no reason but apologized for the inconvenience, and said the street fair and stages were still operating.

In an emailed statement, Pride Toronto said it respected people's right to protest, but made the decision "out of our commitment to ensuring public safety.

"We empathize with those who were looking forward to participating and regret any inconvenience caused by this decision," Pride Toronto's statement said.

Police said no arrests were made in connection with the demonstration. Spokeswoman Laurie McCann said in an email that the decision to cancel the event was made solely by Pride Toronto, without requesting police intervention.

"The Toronto Police have been working closely with Pride Toronto in preparation for this weekend. Pride Toronto communicated to TPS prior to Sunday that they did not want officers to intervene if protestors disrupted the parade. We have respected their request," McCann wrote.

In a press conference Monday, the Coalition Against Pinkwashing confirmed advocates and organizers from different pro-Palestinian groups stopped the parade, taking after Black Lives Matter Toronto in 2016. 

The group wanted to get Pride Toronto organizers to sign onto a list of demands, including cutting ties with all corporations involved in "violently exploiting native people and extracting from native land here on Turtle Island, in Sudan and Palestine and the Congo," said Yohanna Bee, a member of the coalition.

"There is no pride in genocide," said Bee.

Pinkwashing is a term that refers to groups or countries that use queerness and associated progressive values "in order to cast an image of progressivity when in fact all we see is brutality and barbarity," said Faisal Samir, another member of the coalition.