Belgrade holds Pride march as far-right groups clash with police

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LGBTQ activists march on a shortened route amid threats as police conflict with ultranationalist protesters within the Serbian capital.

Serbian police guard the area before the start of the European LGBTQ pride march in Belgrade, Serbia
Serbian police guard the world earlier than the beginning of the European LGBTQ Satisfaction march in Belgrade [Vladimir Milovanovic/AP Photo]

Police in Belgrade have detained dozens of individuals after clashes with right-wing and ultranationalist protesters, who had mentioned they might stop a Satisfaction march within the Serbian capital.

LGBTQ activists gathered for a world Satisfaction march on Saturday a couple of kilometres away regardless of threats from anti-gay teams and a ban by the federal government of President Aleksandar Vucic late final month.

Ultranationalist protesters hurled stun grenades, stones and flares at a police cordon, which repelled the assault with batons and riot shields.

A whole lot of Satisfaction march supporters gathered within the pouring rain, dancing and singing as their march was held on a shortened route.

“What’s most essential is that we're gathering within the streets. This can be a struggle for human rights. That is the struggle for our constitutional rights and that is the struggle for a democratic Serbian rule of legislation,” mentioned Marko Mihajlovic, one of many Satisfaction occasion organisers.

“We want justice and freedom,” Goran Miletic, one other organiser mentioned.

Earlier within the week, the Serbian police banned the parade, citing the chance of clashes with far-right activists. However organisers on Saturday mentioned they acquired ensures from Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, who's a lesbian, that the occasion might go forward.

Brnabic mentioned at a information convention afterward Saturday that 64 individuals had been arrested and 10 law enforcement officials have been evenly injured, regional N1 media reported.

“At the moment we organized 5,200 law enforcement officials on the streets of Belgrade; we had two incidents … and in each incidents, police members promptly reacted, solved the issue and ensured that the incidents don’t unfold,” Brnabic mentioned.

Inside Minister Aleksandar Vulin warned that his company “won't tolerate any violence on the streets of Belgrade and that it's going to strictly implement the legislation”.

A number of incidents have been reported earlier within the day with anti-gay activists hurling bottles at police and making an attempt to interrupt by way of the police cordons.

Serbian MP Bosko Obradovic, chief of the far-right Dveri occasion, mentioned on Twitter the parade had an “anti-Christian agenda” serving as a “precursor to the whole NATO occupation of Serbia”.

The European Satisfaction Organisers Affiliation selected Serbia’s capital three years in the past to host the annual occasion, hoping it might signify a breakthrough for a Slavic nation that's historically conservative and strongly influenced by the Orthodox Church.

European Union and different Western officers, in addition to rights teams, had urged populist Serbian President Vucic to permit the holding of the Satisfaction march. However Vucic had mentioned police couldn't deal with attainable riots by right-wing teams amid the vitality disaster.

These right-wing teams, a few of them thought-about near Vucic’s nationalist authorities, have been additionally banned from gathering on Saturday, however they mentioned they might ignore the ruling.

A number of authorized appeals by march organisers towards the ban have been rejected by Serbian authorities.

Greater than 20 embassies – together with the US, France and the UK – issued a joint assertion urging the authorities to raise the ban.

Homosexual marriage isn't legally recognised in Serbia, a candidate for EU membership, the place homophobia stays deep-seated regardless of some progress over time in lowering discrimination.

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