Serbia’s gay parade cancelled after threats

BELGRADE - Serbian authorities effectively banned the gay pride parade in Belgrade, gay right activists claimed Saturday following the threats of violence from extreme nationalist groups.

The organisers of the parade, scheduled for Sunday in central Belgrade, said the interior ministry told them their event was too risky and could not be guaranteed security.

Instead, they were offered a venue in the sprawling New Belgrade district, but they refused.

“It was not a legal ban, but it was an actual ban,” Dusan Kosanovic of the organisational committee told a press conference. “The parade will not happen.”

The run-up to the event was marred by pressure from several extremist groups threatening a repeat of brutal violence which ended the previous - and so far the only - attempt of gays to hold a parade in Belgrade eight years ago.

“Everyone knows what will happen if they go ahead with that parade of shame and the organisers will be responsible,” Mladen Obradovic of the extremist nationalist movement ‘Obraz’ said.

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic said this week police were ready to protect the basic right to the freedom of expression.

However, conservative and nationalist parties, including former premier Vojislav Kostunica’s Democratic Party of Serbia (DPS), but also a junior partner in President Boris Tadic’s ruling coalition, branded the gay march as ‘unacceptable’.

The ultra-conservative Serbian Orthodox Church is also a vocal opponent of gay rights - a cause which has few backers among Serbian politicians.