London Pride 2023: Best 20 photos from the capital’s LGBT+ celebrations - including Just Stop Oil protest

Pride in London took over the streets today in celebration of the LGBT+ community.

Thousands of people enjoyed the parade, which started at noon at Hyde Park Corner before moving towards Piccadilly, then south to Haymarket and Trafalgar Square, before finishing at Whitehall Place. Around 600 groups joined the parade, with 30,000 people registered.

The theme of this year’s event is ‘Never March Alone’ in support of trans allyship. Reports suggest a million people were expected to join London mayor Sadiq Khan in central London.

A group of LGBTQ+ Just Stop Oil protesters disrupted the event as the group continues its call for an end to new fossil fuel projects in the UK. Supporters sat down to block the Coca-Cola, while others sprayed pink and black paint over the road. A separate Just Stop Oil, Pride-themed slow march set off from Trafalgar Square at lunchtime.

A Just Stop Oil spokesperson said: “Pride was born from protest. It speaks to how far we’ve come as a community, that high polluting industries and the banks that fund them, now see Pride as a useful vehicle for sanitising their reputations, waving rainbow flags in one hand whilst accelerating social collapse with the other. It is queer people, and particularly queer people of colour in the global south, who are suffering first in this accelerating social breakdown.”

Across central London celebrations continue with bright costumes, music and dancing.