Enhanced security planned for Pride London Festival
The rainbow coloured pride flag sways in the breeze outside Artisan Bakery in London’s Old East Village.
Bakery owner Brie Sims is hoping that’s where exactly where it stays for some time to come. That’s because it’s the third flag she’s had up in just six months.
“We've had our flag ripped down a few times and an attempt to kind of light it on fire,” said Sims. “So we're on our third flag now.”
Located across from the Western Fair District, Artisan Bakery is one of the first businesses along the route for this year’s Pride London parade.
Something Sims hopes to celebrate safely with her staff.
“For myself personally I am concerned that there is a risk to being gay every day, not just in June or during the parade,” Sims said.
Pride London tells CTV News that security at the 2022 edition of the Pride London Festival will be greater than in previous years.
That includes 26 police officers stationed at stop lights along the parade route, and private security at various events.
“We are certainly having conversations about additional security measures, and ensuring everybody feels safe,” said Stephen D’Amelio, vice president of Pride London.
“We're hiring extra security guards that are there the whole time the festival is,” added Pride London President Deb Abdalla. “We're going to have extra security guards overnight to protect everything. We want to make sure people feel, like Stephen said, people feel safe when they come to the festival. But for the Pride Parade, we do have a number of police officers that are at the closed roads.”
Pride London said it will be closely watching Toronto’s Pride Festival, which takes place this weekend.
Pride Toronto has partnered with private security firms for its events, and is conducting weapons checks to enter designated areas.
Discussions over security at the Pride London Festival come as the community faces acts of vandalism around the region, including the theft of pride flags in Oxford County, and paint being splattered on a rainbow crosswalk in Ingersoll, Ont.
“We're not going to see violence here,” said a man CTV News spoke with in downtown London. “I'm one of those people, I've lived here for the better part of my life. The Pride Festival would be a quiet one here. If they wanted to beef up security it would be for optics only.”
A woman, who identified herself as a member of the LGBTQ2 community, added that she doesn’t expect violence at the Pride Festival either.
“And I've never seen violence at Pride, outside Pride. I mean there's protesters, but there's protesters but they've always just been loud and noisy,” she said.
The Pride London Festival gets underway on July 14 and wraps up with the parade on July 24.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Trudeau promises $1B in loans for child-care providers to expand care centres
The federal government is launching a new loan program to help child-care providers in Canada expand their spaces, and will be extending further student loan forgiveness and training options for early childhood educators, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Thursday.
Spring allergy season has begun. Where is it worse in Canada?
The spring allergy season has started early in many parts of Canada, with high levels of pollen in some cities already. Experts weigh in on which areas have it worse so far this season.
Sunshine list: These were the Ontario public sector's highest earners in 2023
Ontario released its annual sunshine list Thursday afternoon, noting that the largest year-over-year increases were in hospitals, municipalities, and post-secondary sectors.
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
N.B. man wins $64 million from Lotto 6/49
A New Brunswicker will go to bed Thursday night much richer than he was Wednesday after collecting on a winning lottery ticket he let sit on his bedroom dresser for nearly a year.
'Nonsense:' Doug Ford slams lawsuits filed by Ontario school boards against social media platforms
Premier Doug Ford says that lawsuits launched by four Ontario school boards against a trio of social media platforms are “nonsense” and risk becoming a distraction to the work that really matters.
Why some Christians are angry about Trump's 'God Bless the USA' Bible
Former U.S. President Donald Trump is officially selling a copy of the Bible themed to Lee Greenwood’s famous song, 'God Bless the USA.' But the concept of a Bible covered in the American flag has raised concern among religious circles.
Multiple bridges in Calgary shut down for police incident
Calgary police have shut down a number of bridges into and out of the downtown core as officers deal with a distraught individual.
King Charles calls for acts of friendship in first public remarks since Kate's cancer diagnosis
King Charles III gave public remarks for Maundy Thursday, addressing the importance of acts of friendship, following his and Catherine, Princess of Wales’ cancer diagnoses.