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Members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community and their supporters take part in the Belfast Pride 2019 Parade in Belfast, Northern Ireland, on August 3, 2019. Paul Faith / AFP

The Belfast Pride March was held on Saturday, August 3 in a tense political context. This is the first pro-LGBTQ Rights protest since a historic vote on gay marriage. The first-ever Belfast Pride Parade was held in 1991 and brought together only about 100 people.

With our correspondent in London, Marina Daras

The multicolored flag rose Saturday morning for the first time on the city of Belfast. An " extremely important " moment for his mayor, John Finucane, who was extremely proud to participate in this historic event.

Leo Varadkar, Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland, was at the front of the parade, alongside an armored police vehicle covered with rainbow flags.

Tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the North Irish capital for the first Pride March since a historic vote on gay marriage.

On July 9, the UK Parliament voted to extend the right to same-sex marriage and abortion in Northern Ireland, which lags behind the rest of the UK's equality community. The law will come into force on October 21 if the Northern Irish Parliament is not returned by then.

Equal rights issues divide public opinion in Northern Ireland as a small number of protesters opposed to the event gathered in front of Belfast City Hall to try to block the march of protesters.