German gays and lesbians marching in the northern city of Hamburg over the weekend said they set a new world record for a group hug, with 16,000 people embracing each other for 10 seconds. "This march should bring people together, regardless of whether people are homosexual or heterosexual," said drag queen Olivia Jones, one of the organizers. Braving cold and rainy weather, the marchers beat the previous group hug record set last year by 5,117 Canadian high school students. Police said overall around 22,000 people attended the so-called 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.