About 300 people gathered for this year's pride parade in the centre of Split on Saturday afternoon with some of the tourists visiting this Adriatic city as well as several politicians from opposition parties taking part in the event too.

Over 200 police officers secured the venue of the 9th annual parade, which consisted of a walk through the city centre and entertainment programme. No incidents were reported.

A local leader of the LGBTIQ community, Marko Mlinar, told the press that he was happy to see a higher number of young people joining the parade, and commented that there was still a sizeable portion of the community who were still disinclined to self-disclosure in fear of their security or employment.

Some participants in the parade carried banners with messages such as “Trans Rights are Human Rights!”, “Real life is lived outside the four walls!” and messages calling for more tolerance.

The leader of Social Democratic Party (SDP) branch in Split, Goran Kotur, brought a life-size picture of Mayor Andro Krstulović Opara thus criticising his non-attendance at the event.

The Swedish Embassy in Zagreb donated 1,000 kuna (EUR 135) for the organisation of the parade.

Last night graffiti saying “Only dead gay is OK” appeared on an overpass in the Pujanke residential area but was removed in the morning.

The first gay parade in the Croatian Adriatic city of Split was held in June 2011 with some 200 participants walking through the centre of the city, amidst heavy police presence.

(EUR 1=7.41 kuna)