Police ask to ban LGBT rally in Odesa

The main department of the National Police in Odesa region has sent a letter to the Odesa City Council with a request to appeal to the court to prohibit holding mass events in the city on August 10-14.

This is reported by Interfax-Ukraine news agency, which has a copy of the letter to the Odesa City Council.

The letter, in particular, says that the society ambiguously treats the events scheduled within the OdesaPride2016 festival for this period: the relevant reports to the police have already been submitted by MP Pavlo Unhurian and Metropolitan of Odesa and Izmail Agafangel (Ukrainian Orthodox Church of Moscow Patriarchate).

In addition, the festival’s events coincide in time and venue with a number of patriotic actions and the actions aimed at countering the LGBT propaganda.

In this regard, the main department of the National Police in Odesa region is afraid of the mass violations of public order and asks the city council with the help of the court to limit the right of citizens to hold mass actions.

In turn, the festival organizers do not intend to abandon the meeting, having opened the registration of participants on Wednesday.

Late July, the organizers of the OdesaPride2016 queer culture festival filed an application to the Odesa City Council requesting for holding a street human rights campaign.