Tens of thousands turn out for Amsterdam Gay Pride boat parade

gay pride policeThe 20th edition of Amsterdam’s Gay Pride boat parade is taking place in the capital on Saturday afternoon, attended by tens of thousands of people.

The theme of this year’s event is ‘share the love, love the differences’ and it attracted visitors from all over the world.

The spectacle involved 80 boats covering a six kilometre route around the city centre. A first this year was a boat carrying refugees, news agency ANP said.

There were also a large number of commercial boats as well as barges carrying staff from the defence ministry and the city transport department.

Police warned in the afternoon that the area around the Magere bridge over the Amstel was too full, and urged visitors to find a different place to watch the parade.

In the morning, one boat carrying 10 people was swamped by a wave and capsized close to the Hermitage museum. All the crew were able to swim to safety, ANP said.

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