Five Policemen Injured During Kiev Gay Pride March

A BBC reporter has reported that a number of unidentified people attacked the rally alongside the Dnipro River with smoke bombs and stones.

Ahead of the LGBT march, a number of Ukrainian politicians, including the radical Right Sector movement, had publicly threatened to disrupt the event.

The event went ahead despite a request by Kiev Mayor Vitaly Klitschko for organisers of the Equality March to cancel and so "avoid confrontation" in the capital.

The city deployed hundreds of police officers in order to prevent clashes during the event but unidentified attackers later began throwing smoke bombs.

One of the policemen suffered "a serious neck injury", a Red Cross official said, and was taken to hospital for treatment.

Ukrainian lawmaker and journalist Serhiy Leshchenko praised police for preventing "direct clashes" between gay activists and the radicals, of whom 25-30 were arrested, reports say.

The rally finished shortly after the street fights were broken up.

While the Ukrainian authorities claim the rights of sexual minorities are protected, homophobia is apparently widespread and accepted in the predominantly Orthodox Christian nation.