It's the first time the annual EuroPride march has been held in Central or Eastern Europe and the first time Warsaw has granted all the permits for Pride, and came despite a petition with more than 50,000 signatures from anti-gay groups demanding the cancellation of the event.

Several small counter-protests were held, where eggs and abuse were hurled at those in the parade.

BBC correspondent Adam Easton says gay people in staunchly Roman Catholic Poland find it hard to be open about their sexuality. He says church leaders and politicians regularly speak out against homosexuality.

EuroPride says it held the march in Poland to send a strong signal to a part of the continent where equal rights and acceptance of GLBT people is still minimal.

In previous years, authorities have tried to outlaw Pride in Warsaw and ordered police to break up the march.

EuroPride says it was only with the help of foreign visitors and international media that the Polish Equality Foundation, which runs Warsaw Pride, was able to succeed in putting on a Pride event each year despite the government pressure.

European Pride Organisers Association President Robert Kastl says the group wants to send a message to all Eastern European countries where local Pride organisers are facing serious problems in organising events.

"Other cities such as Moscow and Riga have to learn that it is unacceptable in Europe to prohibit gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transgenders from appearing in public," he says.

"The discrimination, the bigotry and the right-wing and religious extremism against GLBT people in all of Eastern Europe has to stop."