United by Pride marches meet in buffer zone on October 10

United by Pride will bring together LGBTQIA+ people from both sides of the divide on Saturday, October 10, with parallel marches from either side of Nicosia converging in the Ledra Palace buffer zone. The organisers describe the event, now in its fifth edition, as the only Pride on the island that brings participants from both communities together in a shared space. The marches will set off at 5pm from Eleftheria Square in the south and Kugulu Park in the occupied north, and meet outside the Home for Cooperation for an evening programme. The buffer zone was chosen deliberately, the organisers said. It is one of the few places where Greek-speaking Cypriots, Turkish-speaking Cypriots and everyone who calls the island home can gather with as few barriers as possible. History The first United by Pride was held in 2022, when two marches from the north and south converged at the UN buffer zone. The organisers describe it as Cyprus’s first intercommunal Pride and the only Pride in the world held within UN-controlled territory. They also say it is the only Pride in the region entirely independent of sponsors and public funding. According to its founding principles, the event is community-led and community-funded, independent of corporate money and political parties, with no politicians on its stage. Three of the four previous editions ran at a deficit, with the organisers covering the shortfall out of their own pockets. Programme Hosted by A Man To Pet, the programme features Karagoza, Caramel, the duo Tutti Canimlar (Isidei Preciado and Eryetis Canbozan) with their act The Kardesans, and performance artist Gravity Grave (George Rallis). DJs Nicholas and Nana will also play. Political aims The organisers said they would march for peace and reunification, for all communities living on the island, for Palestinian liberation, and for queer and trans liberation. They would also march for migrants and refugees, who they said are policed on both sides of the line. Their announcement also pointed to the far right gaining ground in Europe and in Cyprus, and to Gaza, where it said people were still being killed a year into the ceasefire. The organisers said they knew what a line drawn by someone else does to a place. “We have been living inside one for over fifty years. On 10 October we cross it,” they said. Details of the artists, safety arrangements, volunteering and donations will be posted on the event’s website and Instagram as they are released.