(Riga) About 300 gays and lesbians celebrated gay pride under heavily armed police protection on the weekend in  Riga, the capital of Latvia.  The parade route was small – around the perimeter of Vermanes Park near the center of the city – but hundreds of people jeered and heckled the marchers.

Despite the reported threat, police say the march went off without violence.

City officials had attempted to ban the celebration. A day before the parade was to take place, a Riga court overturned a ruling that upheld a city council move to bar marchers.

Previous LGBT events in the city have been disrupted by extreme right-wing nationalist groups.

In 2006, Riga refused to grant a parade permit, citing security reasons following a recommendation from Latvian Interior Minister Dzintars Jaundzeikars.

Pride organizers organized a service at a local church instead of holding a parade. As they left the church, dozens were attacked by an angry mob. They were pelted with bags of excrement and verbal abuse as police stood by watching.

Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga denounced the violence and said that it was unacceptable for the Riga City Council to refuse the parade permit.

In 2005, gays went to court and got an injunction after the city also refused a parade license. The march was marked by violence and a number of protesters were arrested.

The issue of LGBT civil rights also led to a showdown between Vike-Freiberga and Parliament in 2006.

A labor law passed in 2004 as a condition of European Union membership contained protections for gays but was never implemented.  In 2006 Parliament revised it, stripped out the LGBT protections and sent it to the president for her signature.

Vike-Freiberga vetoed the measure, returning it to Parliament with a terse message that she would sign it only when the protections were restored.

After a heated battle in Parliament, the clause was reinstated and the bill was signed into law.

Still, the EU has labeled Latvia as one of Europe’s most homophobic countries.