Gays and lesbians marching in the northern city of Hamburg on Saturday reportedly set a new world record for a group hug, with 16,000 people embracing each other for 10 seconds.

Drag queen Olivia Jones, one of organizers told local media that the "march should bring people together, regardless of whether people are homosexual or heterosexual."

Despite the dire conditions, the marchers beat the previous group hug record set last year by 5117 Canadian high school students.

Police reported an overall attendance of 22,000 people. The hug occurred during the Christopher Street Day parade, a Gay Pride march which is held in numerous cities in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to mark the riots following a 1969 police raid on a gay bar in New York City.