Chinese LGBT activists and community members marked the International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia, and Transphobia warily this year, Reuters and Channel News Asia reported.

IDAHOT is celebrated on May 17 to celebrate the day when homosexuality was removed by the World Health Organisation from its list of diseases.

However, participants in a 5.17-kilometer run in Beijing intended to raise awareness of the day were told to jog individually, rather than in a big group, with organisers concerned of attracting attention from the authorities.

Just days earlier, Reuters reported that video had been shared online of two women being beaten by security guards for handing out rainbow flag stickers in the capital's art district. The footage has since been removed from the popular social networking site Weibo.

"Even though there are a lot of LGBT people in China, we still don't have rights to get married and don't have official approval," said university student Hu Mianlin, who participated in IDAHOT events on Thursday anyway.