A REPORTED 100,000 people attended a rally on Ketagalan Boulevard in support of LGBTQ rights today, with a nationwide referendum on marriage equality and LGBTQ-friendly education scheduled to take place next Saturday. Featuring musical performances and speeches, the rally culminated with a performance by heavy metal band Chthonic, which is fronted by legislator Freddy Lim of the New Power Party (NPP).

That the rally would be so large was a surprise to most, with most expecting the event only to draw thousands or several tens of thousands, particularly for an event announced on a short notice. Namely, with 100,000 in attendance according to organizers, this would put the rally on a similar scale to the Formosa Alliance’s demonstration in front of DPP headquarters on October 20th, which mobilized individuals from all across Taiwan. This would even put the event close in size to the pride parade which took place on October 28th—the largest pride parade in Taiwanese history—which drew 140,000 to the streets of Taipei. Indeed, while campaign events were also held today by Taipei mayoral candidates Ko Wen-Je, Ting Shou-chung, and Pasuya Yao, the rally on Ketagalan Boulevard far dwarfed them in size.

As a rally and concert, the event was similar to an anti-nuclear concert held the previous week at Liberty Plaza, which had some overlapping organizers. Likewise, the event, which was MCed by Jennifer Lu and Cheng Chi-wei of the Taiwan Tongzhi Hotline, was a star-studded one. Performers at the event included a number of well-known pop musicians, including as Ailing Tai, Z-Chen, Enno Cheng, Lara Liang, Sean Lin, and Afalean Lu. A number of famous television and film actors were also present as speakers, including Ding Ning, Amber An, Wen Chen-ling, and others. Read more via New Bloom