The exuberant boat parade is the festive end to Pride every year. But this year there is a threat of protest. The first advertisements with booking.com in the city are provided with slogans with graffiti.
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Pro-Palestinian activists have long been aiming for the holiday rental website, because it offers accommodations in occupied Palestinian territories and therefore benefits. The head office was the target of daubing and demonstrations in the past year and a half.
Bobbing protesters
Last year the boat from Booking.com was blocked during the Canal Parade by swimming and bobbing demonstrators with a banner. It was a group of activists affiliated with Extinction Rebellion, which also stopped a boat trip from Masterir Fair Masters Expo for a longer period of time last month.
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The organization of Canal Parade is not concerned about ‘a few swimmers’, a spokesperson said. “Pride is about Pride and that’s it“He says. Because the Canal Parade is a big event with a large audience, attention is paid to safety and public order. Any protests and blockages have been included in ‘a total package’.
‘Focus on beautiful parade’
According to the spokesperson, walking ahead of any disturbances makes little sense. “If the weather threatens to be bad weather, there will be stories about ‘the wettest pride ever’. We focus on a beautiful parade with 80 boats,” he says.
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One would sail under the flag of Saints & Stars, but the luxury gym withdrew on Tuesday. The company is under fire due to exploitation of more than twenty Filipino and Indonesian cleaners. “This moment is not about us and that is why we take a step back,” says Saits & Stars in a statement. According to owner Tom Moos, employees of the gym are insulted and threatened in the last days. The boat has been returned to the organization.
‘Uber not safe’
The Canal Parade was also used by taxi drivers to protest for better working conditions. Drivers resign from eight in the evening to six in the morning. It is specifically about journeys via Platforms Uber and Bolt.
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A striking choice, it sounds from the LGBTI community. In recent years, Dragqueen and other partygoers have regularly had to deal with discrimination and even violence by taxi drivers after the Pride festivities. In 2022, such an incident was a reason for hundreds of people to demonstrate against anti-LHBTI violence. With signs such as ‘Uber Not Safe’ they then went to the gay monument.
‘TCA gets it very busy’
“It is striking that it is on the same day,” says Dragqueen Jennifer Hopelezz about the strike. She finds the timing ‘special’. “I will never take Uber myself again,” says Hopelezz, who was refused several times in the past by Uber drivers. Just like others from the community, Hopelezz would rather take a regular taxi, because she can already make it clear to the plant by telephone that she is in drag.
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Until recently, Eward Koning was an entrepreneurial foreman in the Reguliersdwarsstraat. He really thinks the protest is all about working conditions. “I think TCA is getting very busy,” he jokes. According to Koning, some partygoers who cannot go home by bike or public transport are already alternatives. “It comes out very silly,” he says. “Honestly, I don’t think many drivers will participate in the strike. They also just want to make money.”