ens of thousands of people from Burundi, an impoverished East African nation, demonstrated Friday in their capital of Bujumbura to demand the outlawing of homosexuality, reports Agence France-Presse.

The demonstration, which drew up to 20,000 people, follows the government’s failure to implement a law that would have criminalized homosexual acts. On February 17, senators voted through a draft criminal code law that abolished the death penalty, but rejected an amendment that outlawed homosexuality.

At Friday’s protest, Jeremie Ngendakumana, the ruling party’s chairman, said, “[We are] protesting today to support the [view of the] majority of Burundians that homosexuality should be punished by law. Homosexuality is a sin. It is a culture which has been imported to sully our morals and is practiced by immoral people.”

 See Burundians Demand Homosexuality Be Criminalized Advocate.com