Buoyant joy mixed with potent political anger at this year’s Boston Pride parade, the second organized by Boston Pride for the People. The event kicked off Saturday morning, with participants from more than 300 groups marching the 1.7 mile route from Back Bay to Boston Common.

Hundreds of thousands of people funneled into downtown Boston for this year’s event. Mixed among the celebrants were hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists, many members of the LGBTQ+ community themselves, who turned out to protest Boston Pride for the People’s partnerships with companies tied to Israel.

Miles Taylor, dressed as the Revolutionary War officer Lafayette, was marching in the parade with the Freedom Trail Foundation, which is offering a Pride tour for the first time this month.

Taylor, a transgender man, said that to him, Pride means visibility. He said that a young person taking part in one of his recent tours came out to him, noting that they didn’t feel comfortable telling their parents.

“I feel like I have a responsibility to the community to be out and open about my identity,” said Taylor. “Because if there’s someone who is questioning or if there’s someone who doesn’t feel safe to come out, they can see that I’m a safe person and see that this is a safe place.”

Sheila Graham, who was marching with the nonprofit More Than Words, said that Pride goes beyond the parade and other June celebrations.

“I am Pride, 365 days a year,” said Graham. “I just am who I am, authentically myself.”

Paul Glass, a program coordinator with LGBTQ+ Elders of Color, turned out to wish his colleagues a happy Pride before the parade started.

“Pride means a legacy of all of the folks like myself who have paved the way to make it easier for all of us to be welcomed, accepted and appreciated,” said Glass. “We still have some roads to cover, but we’ve come a long way.”

This year’s Pride comes amid an ugly climate for the LGBTQ+ community in some parts of the country, with many states proposing and enacting legislation targeting queer rights.

Meantime, Pride events in Boston and elsewhere have drawn scrutiny from groups critical of organizers’ sponsorship ties to companies connected to Israel

Activists, some of whom raised concerns along those lines in a letter to Boston Pride for the People this week, gathered a “liberation contingent” on the Boston parade route, at the intersection of Boylston Street and Berkeley Street.

Members of groups including the Stonewall Liberation Organization took part in chants like “No cops, no corps, no pride in genocide” as the parade went by. Among them was a Stonewall activist named Irene, who withheld her last name over safety concerns.

“We want not only these corporations and these cops that are supporting the genocide in Palestine to not be in the parade, but we also want the politicians that are supporting this genocide, and supporting cops, and supporting violence against Palestine protesters, to be expelled,” said Irene.

Tensions bubbled over as a float with Gov. Maura Healey, one of the first two openly lesbian governors in the country, approached the intersection. Demonstrators stepped into the street and linked arms in front of the float, in an effort to “try and engage in a conversation with them [Healey], to try and say to them, this is what we’re about,” according to Irene.

The protestors were quickly surrounded by police, with at least three people arrested at the scene. Officers could later be seen shoving demonstrators at the side of the route.

Many parade participants cheered the protestors as they passed by, with dozens of marchers carrying Palestinian flags themselves.

As the official parade came to a close, protesters took to the street once more, for a peaceful march of their own from Boylston Street to Boston Common.

“I think that the Boston queer community really showed [up] and said which side they’re on,” said an activist named Magz. “We moved together, stayed together, and really supported each other.”

Editor’s note: GBH is the public media sponsor of Boston Pride for the People and a GBH employee resource group marched in Saturday’s event.