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Editor's note: The story was updated with a comment by Bohdan Zhuk, director of the Sunny Bunny festival.
A clash broke out between police and far-right protesters outside the Zhovten cinema in Kyiv on April 19, where the Sunny Bunny LGBTQ+ film festival is taking place, Suspilne media reported.
According to a Suspilne correspondent at the scene, members of the group called "Prava Molod" ("The Right Youth" in Ukrainian) gathered outside of the venue in support of what they described as "traditional values." The protest escalated into a confrontation with police.
Police detained all demonstrators, citing the need to verify their identities, according to Suspilne. Authorities have not yet confirmed whether charges will be pressed.
While public support for LGBTQ+ rights in Ukraine has grown in recent years, the community continues to face frequent threats and violence, particularly from far-right groups. Events such as Pride marches and queer cultural festivals are often targeted by the far right.
The Sunny Bunny festival, which began on April 18, is Ukraine's first queer film festival. It was originally a program within the Molodist Kyiv International Film Festival.
Overlapping with the Easter weekend, the festival sparked debates online on whether its timing was appropriate in the lead-up to its opening. Organizers said the dates had been scheduled well in advance and happened to coincide with Easter.
"Ukraine is a secular state where people of different faiths and beliefs live side by side," the festival team said in a statement published on April 18. "In a secular country, a variety of events, from theater to cinema, take place on any given holiday, and Sunny Bunny is just one of them," they said.
"We are convinced that a part of Ukrainian society simply found an excuse in Easter or Good Friday to express their disagreement with the existence of the festival (or the LGBTQIA+ community) in general, professing in fact homophobic and discriminatory beliefs and openly expressing hatred and calls for violence, which does not correspond to the Christian values that they supposedly adhere to."
Bohdan Zhuk, director of Sunny Bunny, told the Kyiv Independent that the festival organizers had received threats prior to the event.
"I am grateful to the police for their quick response and glad that there were no victims in this clash," Zhuk said.
"At the same time, I was informed about an incident in which a visitor of our film festival was assaulted by far-right radicals near the cinema. This is unacceptable in a democratic country that should protect the rights of all its citizens and prevent discrimination," he added.
The police have yet to comment on these claims.
A 2023 poll by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology found that over 70% of Ukrainians believe LGBTQ+ people should have the same rights as others.
In March 2023, lawmaker Inna Sovsun of the Holos party introduced a draft bill to legalize civil partnerships in Ukraine. The proposal has received backing from several parliamentary committees but remains stalled due to a lack of approval from the Legal Policy Committee, a necessary step before it can be considered by the full parliament.
Kateryna Denisova
