BELGRADE, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Several thousand clerics and far-right activists opposed to the Belgrade organization of Europride, a pan-European march in favor of LGBT rights, marched through the streets of the Serbian capital on Sunday.
This “pride march” is organized each year in a different city and Belgrade is to host it on September 17, but President Aleksandar Vucic announced on Saturday that it would be canceled or postponed for security reasons, mentioning in particular the risk of violence by far-right ‘hooligans’.
He also cited the dispute over Kosovo or the energy crisis. “It will happen, but in happier times”, declared the Serbian president.
Sunday’s protest was led by representatives of the Serbian Orthodox Church, some of whose officials said Euroride threatened traditional family values and called for its banning.
Demonstrators chanted far-right and nationalist slogans, some waving the Russian flag as a sign of support for Moscow, Belgrade’s traditional ally.
The UN Resident Coordinator in Serbia, Franoise Jacob said in a statement that a ban on Europride would be contrary to Serbia’s international human rights commitments.
Several “gay prides” have already been banned in Belgrade, where some of them, in the early 2000s, met with strong opposition and were marked by violence.
But the last editions have taken place peacefully, prompting the organizers of Europride to choose the Serbian capital as their host city this year, after Copenhagen in 2021. (Report Fedja Grulovic, written by Aleksandar Vasovic, French version Jean-Stphane Brosse)