Updated at 8.10pm

THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE took part in a march for marriage equality in Dublin city centre today, organised by LGBT Noise.

The crowd marched from City Hall to the Department of Justice this afternoon where speakers called for increased pressure to be placed on the government to hold a referendum on gay marriage. Tánaiste Eamon Gilmore has said he wants to see a referendum on the issue but a date has not yet been set.

LGBT Noise said that the aim of the march was also to highlight the “other human rights issues facing LGBT people more widely, in particular the serious danger facing LGBT people in Russia currently”.

Vladamir Dotsenko, a Russian national working in Ireland who spoke at the event, said the “silence of political leaders on this issue is highly disturbing”.

“We must demand that these leaders break their silence on the issue and come out against human rights violations in Russia in the strongest possible terms, as the more concern we as a society show, the better,” he said.

The Union of Students in Ireland said that students from all over the country travelled to Dublin for the march.

USI President Joe O’Connor said the union will “accept nothing short of full marriage equality for LGBT citizens”, and following recent announcements regarding a 2014 referendum, will be campaigning heavily over the coming months for this to be held and passed.

This is the 5th annual March for Marriage and last year some 5,000 people took part.

Thanks to Gaius Gracchus for the images

- Additional reporting by Christine Bohan

Originally published at 10.33am

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