Song, dance and protest

Pro-Palestinian demonstrators with signs blocked procession forcing organizers to cancel

- MARK COLLEY

About 75 marchers carry a giant rainbow flag down Yonge Street.

Thousands of people danced, sang and celebrated at Toronto's Pride Parade on Sunday until the procession was suddenly stopped midroute, and then cancelled, by a protest.

About 30 demonstrators, calling themselves the Coalition Against Pinkwashing, held banners and chanted on Yonge Street, just south of Wellesley Street, three-and-a-half hours after the parade's 2 p.m. start.

Floats and marchers making their way south toward the parade's finish at Nathan Phillips Square were stranded behind the protesters, who chanted "Free Palestine" and "Pride is a protest."

And 45 minutes after the protest began, Pride Toronto announced the remainder of the parade billed as Canada's largest was cancelled.

"We made the decision to cancel the remainder of the parade out of our commitment to ensuring public safety," Pride Toronto spokesperson Anna Lee said in a statement. "While we deeply respect and uphold everyone's right to peacefully protest, our foremost priority is the well-being of all participants and spectators."

According to a pamphlet handed out by the group, the protesters had six demands, chief among them the divestment from all corporations "actively involved in violently exploiting native people" on Turtle Island and in Sudan, Palestine and the Congo.

Pro-Palestinian protesters block the parade near Yonge and Wellesley.