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5,000 people celebrated Belfast pride. Just 23 people went to a Britain First rally the next day

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Belfast's annual Pride festival took place on Saturday.

The celebration of love and equality attracted more than 5,000 people to the capital, according to the organisers.

The LGBT community and their allies marched through the city centre, cheered on by countless members of the public.

It was truly glorious.

The Prime Minister of the Republic of Ireland, Leo Varadkar was also there.

There was an actual rainbow too.

The next day, things weren't quite as cheerful outside Belfast City Hall.

Britain First, the far-right, ultra nationalist group who are now a registered political party in Northern Ireland, held a rally.

It was attended by the group's leader Paul Golding and his deputy leader Jayda Fransen.

According to the Guardian, the protest was organised to coincide with a republican parade, marking the anniversary of British internment without trial in Belfast.

In comparrison to the 5,000 plus people marching through the streets celebrating love and unity, Britain First's turnout was rather unpectacular.

They had just 23 supporters according to HOPE not hate, while the Belfast Telegraph report that there were closer to 50 people supporting the far-right group.

Even though a turn out of this size wouldn't usually warrant any sort of attention, the event didn't go without incident.

An anti-fascist demonstration also took place outside the hall at the same time, which lead to one man being arrested after a missile was allegedly thrown at Britain First's gathering.

Gerry Carroll, a member of the left-wing People Before Profit party, attended the counter protest and told the Guardian.

We have enough divisions in Northern Ireland without these fascists getting a foothold here in this society. They are only here to ramp up these divisions even further.

HT Facebook Guardian Belfast Telegraph

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