A stampede occurred at the LGBTQIA Pride parade in New York on Sunday, with hundreds of people attempting to flee after mistaking the sound of firecrackers for gunshots, police said.

“There were NO shots fired in Washington Square Park,” NYPD tweeted shortly after the incident. “Upon investigation, it was determined that the sound came from firecrackers thrown at the site.”

The stampede caused "no serious injury", police told AFP.

Photographs and videos shared on social media showed terrified people running or walking at full speed down a street bordering the square.

Tens of thousands of people took part in this march on Sunday in the streets of lower Manhattan under a blazing sun.

The New York Pride march for gays and sexual minorities is the second largest in the United States after San Francisco. Sunday was the first time it had been held since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The atmosphere was festive despite the backlash of the Supreme Court's abandonment of the "Roe v. Wade”, which guaranteed the right to abortion throughout the United States.

For the organizers of the march, the decision of the Supreme Court Organizers is "disastrous".

"This dangerous decision puts millions of people at risk, gives government control over individual freedom to choose, and sets a dangerous precedent that threatens many other constitutional rights and freedoms," they said.

Many activist groups fear that the abortion decision will mark the start of a broader offensive by the Supreme Court, currently dominated by conservatives, against other rights won in recent decades such as contraception or marriage. between people of the same sex.