Thousands of people celebrated Pride on the streets of Riga on Saturday, only partially disrupted by isolated counter-protests.

The mostly young participants of the “Riga Pride” parade waved rainbow flags and held signs demanding more tolerance and equal rights for lesbian, gay, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) people.

The two-hour street parade with the slogan “We are all Latvia” was the highlight of the Riga Pride festival, which runs over several weeks.

Being queer is often still taboo in the Baltic country, where same-sex marriage is not yet legal.

The parade’s organizers estimated the number of participants at over 5,000. The colourful march through Riga’s city centre was secured by numerous police officers.

Unlike at previous events, there were no notable incidents.

“This was the most spectacular march Riga has seen so far,” co-organizer Kaspars Zalitis told Latvian radio. “Latvian society has become much more open and inclusive.”

In this year’s Rainbow Europe ranking by the organization ILGA Europe, Latvia landed in 37th place.

The legal status for LGBTQ people within the European Union was thus only worse for queer people in Poland, Romania and Bulgaria.

The Latvian LGBTQ community hopes that the recent election of Edgars Rinkēvičs as president will result in progress and more acceptance amongst society.

Rinkēvičs came out as gay in 2014, but just like many of Latvia’s other top politicians, did not attend Saturday’s parade.