Ottawa’s annual Capital Pride Parade was called off on Sunday after pro-Palestinian activists from Queers for Palestine – Ottawa blocked the route on Wellington Street near Parliament Hill, preventing the march from moving forward. Organisers announced the cancellation at 2:40 p.m., roughly 90 minutes after the parade began, citing an impasse with the protesters and the looming 4 p.m. expiry of street-closure permits. The group, which said it had been invited by the parade’s grand marshal, demanded that Capital Pride host a boycott-divestment-sanctions town hall, adopt a permanent cultural and academic boycott of Israel and secure a public apology from Mayor Mark Sutcliffe and other officials who boycotted last year’s event over Capital Pride’s earlier pro-Palestinian statement. Protesters held signs reading “No Pride in Genocide” and chanted pro-Palestinian slogans as they refused to clear the road. Capital Pride said more than 6,000 people representing 175 organisations had registered to march and called the decision to cancel “deeply regrettable.” Sutcliffe, who attended this year’s parade after skipping the 2024 edition, rejected calls to apologise to the protesters and said any action that allowed a single group to halt the parade was unacceptable. No arrests or injuries were reported.