Clashes erupt as Pride organizers defy threats, ban

BELGRADE, Serbia — Riot police clashed Saturday with soccer hooligans in central Belgrade where a pan-European Pride march was held despite threats from anti-gay groups and an official earlier ban on the march in the traditionally conservative Balkan state.

Tensions were high in the Serbian capital as ultranationalist fans hurled stones and flares at a police cordon, which repelled the attack with batons and riot shields. Hundreds of EuroPride supporters, meanwhile, gathered a few miles away in the pouring rain, dancing and singing as their march was held on shortened route.

“We need justice and freedom,” said Goran Miletic, one of the Pride event organizers.

Holding rainbow flags, hundreds of LGBTQ activists and their supporters marched through a Belgrade area that was sealed off by police who put up metal fences and stood in cordons in full riot gear. U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill was among the participants. As the column passed by a church in central Belgrade, bells constantly tolled, reflecting the Serbian Orthodox Church’s staunch opposition to the Pride events. Participants of the march then headed to a concert.

Earlier, Serbian activists said the main reason for the march is the fight for more rights for the beleaguered LGBTQ community in Serbia, including laws that would regulate the rights of same-sex partnerships, such as inheritance, property and other issues.

Serbian police this week banned the parade, citing the risk of clashes with the farright activists. But organizers on Saturday said they received guarantees from Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, who is a lesbian, that the event could go ahead.

Brnabic said 5,200 police officers were deployed on Belgrade streets during the event, 64 people were detained and 10 officers sustained slight injuries.

A far-right party leader said Brnabic should have been arrested and charged with treason for allowing the march to be held.

The European Pride Organizers Association chose Serbia’s capital three years ago to host the annual event, hoping it would represent a breakthrough for a Slavic country that is traditionally conservative and strongly influenced by the Orthodox Church.

EU and other Western officials, as well as rights groups, had urged populist Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to allow the Pride march, but Vucic had claimed that police couldn’t cope with possible riots by right-wing groups.

Darko Vojinovic / Associated Press Participants in EuroPride march in Belgrade with Serbian riot police deployed to protect the parade from anti-gay groups. A ban on the event had been issued because of threats of violence.