The Belgrade Pride Parade Won't Be Postponed
The Belgrade Pride Parade will be held on Sunday, September 20th, with no delays, despite the existing risk and threats of violence because it is not a provocation, but a promotion of rights, tolerance and getting rid of discrimination, it was revealed today.
One of the organizers, Dragana Vuckovic, told the press that the Parade won't be a provocation and a promotion of a certain sexual orientation, but the promotion of human rights and a system of values based on respecting differences.
According to her, the organizers expect that the Parade will, with police security, pass without incident. She adds that the Minister of Interior, Ivica Dacic, assured them that Serbian Police Forces will do everything to make sure the Parade is safe.
"We repeat our invitation to all representatives of the government and the most important Serbian institutions to join us, because September 20th will be a test in democracy for Serbia," she said.
Another organizer, Milica Djordjevic, said that the participants of the Parade need to get to the Plateau in front of the Faculty of Philosophy by 11am because, otherwise, the police won't allow them to join the crowd.
The Parade will be secured by police forces, and it is forbidden to bring objects made out of metal, glass, or any other objects that may be dangerous.
According to her, it is expected there will be around 500 participants and that, because of their safety, they will get the information about how the Parade will end only when they get there.
Djordjevic said that the participants of the Parade who pass the control points of the Parade will be given special marks, not wishing to be more precise, so that the police could tell them apart, while the names of journalists will be checked.
"We are aware that panic is our greatest enemy," she said and recommended that the participants coming to the Parade stay out of small streets and alleys.
This is the description of the video on YouTube, which explains it much better than I ever could:
On 30 June 2001 several LGBTQ groups from Serbia attempted to march through Belgrade's streets and peacefully demand their rights and an end to oppression. The event was registered with the local police for safety reasons and according to the law, however, when the people started to gather in one of the city's principal squares, a huge crowd of soccer fans, clerics leading ultra nationalist youth, and skinheads stormed the event, attacked and seriously injured several participants and stopped the manifestation from taking place. The event was extremely tense as the police were not equipped to suppress riots or protect the Pride marchers. The conflict unravelled in the streets of Belgrade as the opposers of the event took to the streets triumphantly singing songs about killing gays and lesbians. Some of the victims of the attack took refuge in the building of the student cultural centre where a discussion was planned following the Pride event. The building was surrounded as well in attempt to stop the forum from happening, and it was successful. There were harder clashes between poorly equipped police and assilants in the area where several police officers were injured as well. The aftermath was characterized by sharp criticism of the assailants and government and security officials from the NGO's and a number of public personalities. Government officials did not particularly comment on the event nor were there any consequences for some 30 young men arrested in the riots. Serbia remains a hostile environment for the LGBTQ population and all attempts to organize subsequent Pride marches failed. This was the first Pride march organized in this region.
source: http://www.gsa.org.rs/cms-run/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1215:vesti-nema-odlaganja-povorke-ponosa&catid=34:vestidyn&Itemid=61
There are already about 5 groups that warned the public that they will come to the Parade to ~clean up. The church also called it a Parade of Shame and mentioned something about Sodom and Gomorrah. The Serbian government ant the EU declared their support for the Parade today, but there are still many politicians against it. Everyone, please hope with me that everything will go well on Sunday. And Mods, sorry if the English kinda sucks, I translated this myself :)
One of the organizers, Dragana Vuckovic, told the press that the Parade won't be a provocation and a promotion of a certain sexual orientation, but the promotion of human rights and a system of values based on respecting differences.
According to her, the organizers expect that the Parade will, with police security, pass without incident. She adds that the Minister of Interior, Ivica Dacic, assured them that Serbian Police Forces will do everything to make sure the Parade is safe.
"We repeat our invitation to all representatives of the government and the most important Serbian institutions to join us, because September 20th will be a test in democracy for Serbia," she said.
Another organizer, Milica Djordjevic, said that the participants of the Parade need to get to the Plateau in front of the Faculty of Philosophy by 11am because, otherwise, the police won't allow them to join the crowd.
The Parade will be secured by police forces, and it is forbidden to bring objects made out of metal, glass, or any other objects that may be dangerous.
According to her, it is expected there will be around 500 participants and that, because of their safety, they will get the information about how the Parade will end only when they get there.
Djordjevic said that the participants of the Parade who pass the control points of the Parade will be given special marks, not wishing to be more precise, so that the police could tell them apart, while the names of journalists will be checked.
"We are aware that panic is our greatest enemy," she said and recommended that the participants coming to the Parade stay out of small streets and alleys.
Click to viewThis is the description of the video on YouTube, which explains it much better than I ever could:
On 30 June 2001 several LGBTQ groups from Serbia attempted to march through Belgrade's streets and peacefully demand their rights and an end to oppression. The event was registered with the local police for safety reasons and according to the law, however, when the people started to gather in one of the city's principal squares, a huge crowd of soccer fans, clerics leading ultra nationalist youth, and skinheads stormed the event, attacked and seriously injured several participants and stopped the manifestation from taking place. The event was extremely tense as the police were not equipped to suppress riots or protect the Pride marchers. The conflict unravelled in the streets of Belgrade as the opposers of the event took to the streets triumphantly singing songs about killing gays and lesbians. Some of the victims of the attack took refuge in the building of the student cultural centre where a discussion was planned following the Pride event. The building was surrounded as well in attempt to stop the forum from happening, and it was successful. There were harder clashes between poorly equipped police and assilants in the area where several police officers were injured as well. The aftermath was characterized by sharp criticism of the assailants and government and security officials from the NGO's and a number of public personalities. Government officials did not particularly comment on the event nor were there any consequences for some 30 young men arrested in the riots. Serbia remains a hostile environment for the LGBTQ population and all attempts to organize subsequent Pride marches failed. This was the first Pride march organized in this region.
source: http://www.gsa.org.rs/cms-run/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1215:vesti-nema-odlaganja-povorke-ponosa&catid=34:vestidyn&Itemid=61
There are already about 5 groups that warned the public that they will come to the Parade to ~clean up. The church also called it a Parade of Shame and mentioned something about Sodom and Gomorrah. The Serbian government ant the EU declared their support for the Parade today, but there are still many politicians against it. Everyone, please hope with me that everything will go well on Sunday. And Mods, sorry if the English kinda sucks, I translated this myself :)