In May 2013, a small group of around 50 activists marking the International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) were set upon by participants of a thousands-strong counter-demonstration led by clergy of the Georgian Orthodox Church.
Yet international human rights and anti-slavery groups are warning that this year's violence against activists marks an escalation in efforts by the Uzbek government to prevent reports of forced labour from making their way into the international spotlight.
France's president has defended his plan to supply arms to Syria's rebels, as activists mark two years since the anti-government uprising began.
Reaction to the influence of Save Our Children and the Briggs Initiative in the gay community was so significant that it has been called the second Stonewall for many activists, marking their initiation into political participation.
This year, with Mr Bush in the White House, they felt that the war might be edging their way a view apparently shared by abortion-rights activists, who marked the anniversary with a pessimistic vigil of their own.
Many of the demonstrators had been among the thousands of volunteers who turned out to help survivors and clear the wreckage, a moment some activists hoped marked a new awakening among young people in this former Soviet republic.
They, and others across the continent who refuse to conform to the dictates of African Culture –including human rights workers and pro-democracy activists – are marked as un-African, stripped of their humanity, beaten, jailed, tortured, exiled or murdered without too much fuss.
According to Claudio Silva, a 27-year-old Angolan writer and friend of the detained activists, March 7 , 2011marked a shift in the demographics of the opposition movement.
