UK Pride: Rainbow arch ‘deliberately’ burned down after local festival

A ‘deliberate’ attack.

Milton Keynes Pride Festival took place over the weekend, with over 14,000 people in attendance to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community. 

On the Saturday, a beautiful rainbow arch had been donated and setup… and by the Monday it had been burned down, in what organisers describe as a ‘deliberate’ incident. 

In a post on their Instagram feed they said:

“MKPF team are extremely saddened to discover that a person or persons have deliberately broken into the PRIDE site and set fire to the beautiful rainbow arch that was donated by @mymiltonkeynes“

“The arch had been fenced and secured which means that the incident was undertaken on purpose. We had in excess of 14,000 people attend on Saturday and it was such amazing day”.

“Sadly this incident shows that there is still so much work to be done within MK in regards to the Homophobia, Lesphobia, Transphobia and other forms of discrimination the LGBTQ+ community face”.

2021 has seen a series of homophobic vandalism and hate crimes right across the UK, as a response the British police announced a ‘hate crime cars’ scheme to ‘give confidence to our LGBT+ community’.

Sadly, attacks like this seem to send a slightly louder message than colourful cars. The image of a cindered rainbow is really quite heart-breaking.