AN estimated four times as many people as last year were involved in Saturday’s Worcestershire Pride parade during a surprisingly sunny day, marking 50 years since the iconic Stonewall Riots in 1969.

Event treasurer Daniel Somerville led attendees at the riverside, prior to the march to the Cornmarket from midday, in a minute’s silence to remember “all the trans people who have been murdered this year”.

The Stonewall Riots were a series of spontaneous demonstrations by members of the gay community against a police raid which began on June 28, 1969 in Greenwich Village, New York.

Mr Somerville said “the people on the front line” of the riots were “trans women of colour” and he urged attendees to “commit to being a trans ally today”.

“The reason is, that although hate crime against LGBT people generally has risen in the last three years, it has especially risen for trans people and murder rates are as high as they’ve ever been, if not higher, and that scourge has reached as near to home as Droitwich this year,” he said.

In January, 51-year-old trans woman Amy Griffiths was found murdered at her flat in Chalverton Court, Droitwich.

City council leader and head of Worcestershire Conservative Group Marc Bayliss, also during a short speech, said: “Worcester values are built on tolerance and diversity and I think this marks your event – it’s very fitting that it’s held here.”

He went on to say: “I’m proud to belong to a party that legalised same sex marriage. “It’s built on the work of the previous government that legalised civil partnerships and I think that it’s something, in a time when we are so divided as a country, that brings us all together.”

He asked the crowd to help raise the £500,000 needed to allow five-year-old city boy Oscar Saxelby-Lee – who is fighting T-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia – to go to Singapore for lifesaving specialist treatment.

Anyone wishing to donate to the appeal should visit https://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/Team/HandinHandforOscar