By Dusan Stojanovic | Related Press
BELGRADE, Serbia — Riot police clashed Saturday with soccer hooligans in downtown Belgrade, the place a pan-European Delight march was held regardless of threats from anti-gay teams and an official earlier ban on the march within the historically conservative Balkan state.
Tensions have been excessive within the Serbian capital as ultranationalist followers hurled stun grenades, stones and flares at a police cordon, which repelled the assault with batons and riot shields. Lots of of Delight march supporters, in the meantime, gathered just a few kilometers (miles) away within the pouring rain, dancing and singing their march was held on a shortened route.
“We'd like justice and freedom,” stated Goran Miletic, one of many Delight occasion organizers.
Though a number of Delight marches have been held in Serbia up to now years, the Slavic nation that's formally in search of European Union membership seems to be sliding towards Russia and its conservative traditions.
Holding rainbow flags, a whole lot of LGBTQ activists and their supporters marched by a central Belgrade space that was sealed off by police who put up steel fences and stood in cordons in full riot gear.
U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill was among the many individuals. Hill informed N1 regional tv that “we're all brothers and sisters and God’s kids.”
“It’s an necessary day for equality and an necessary day for this nation as effectively,” he stated.
Because the column handed by a church in central Belgrade, bells consistently tolled, reflecting the Serbian Orthodox Church’s staunch opposition to the Delight occasions. Members of the march then headed to a live performance.
Earlier, Serbian activists stated the principle cause for the march is the struggle for extra rights for the beleaguered LGBTQ group in Serbia, together with legal guidelines that will regulate the rights of same-sex partnerships, equivalent to inheritance, property and different points.
Serbian police this week banned the parade, citing the chance of clashes with the far-right activists. However organizers on Saturday stated they acquired ensures from Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, who's a lesbian, that the occasion might go forward.
Brnabic stated she was proud that in “this complete week, with greater than 130 (LGBTQ) occasions, there wasn’t one single incident. And that actually is the best picture of Belgrade and Serbia.”
Brnabic stated 5,200 law enforcement officials have been deployed on Belgrade streets in the course of the Delight march, 64 individuals have been detained and 10 policemen sustained sight accidents.
A far-right occasion chief stated Brnabic ought to have been arrested and charged with treason for permitting the march to be held.
The European Delight Organizers Affiliation selected Serbia’s capital three years in the past to host the annual occasion, hoping it will characterize a serious breakthrough for a Slavic nation that's historically conservative and strongly influenced by the Orthodox Church.
EU and different Western officers, in addition to rights teams, had urged populist Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic to permit the Delight march however Vucic had claimed that police can’t deal with potential riots by right-wing teams amid the vitality disaster introduced on by the conflict in Ukraine.
AP author Jovana Gec contributed to this story.