- Title: Serbian LGBT activists to go ahead with EuroPride parade despite ban
- Date: 30th August 2022
- Summary: BELGRADE, SERBIA (FILE - SEPTEMBER 2021) (REUTERS) PEOPLE WALKING IN PRIDE PARADE VARIOUS OF PARTICIPANTS WALKING WITH LGBT FLAGS, SINGING, HOLDING BANNERS
- Embargoed: 13th September 2022 14:28
- Keywords: Belgrade EuroPride parade LGBT activists LGBT community in Serbia ban on Pride parade
- Location: BELGRADE, SERBIA
- City: BELGRADE, SERBIA
- Country: Serbia
- Topics: Europe,Society/Social Issues
- Reuters ID: LVA002152530082022RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:LGBT activists in Serbia said on Tuesday (August 30) the EuroPride event in Belgrade will take place as planned and motivation among participants is even higher to take to the streets and protest, despite the official government ban.
Belgrade is due to host the EuroPride march on September 17, an event staged in a different European city each year. But Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said on Saturday (August 27) it would be cancelled or postponed, citing security reasons such as threats from right-wing activists.
A board member of EuroPride Organization, Filip Vulovic told Reuters that people are still invited to come and walk in the parade and all events during Pride Week will be held as planned.
"In 2022 the rights, which are guaranteed by the Constitution, are still being restricted," Vulovic said adding there is a greater interest from abroad to come and support the community in Serbia at the "free, peaceful gatheringâ€.
Previous Serbian governments have banned Pride parades in the past, drawing criticism from human rights groups and others. Some Pride marches in the early 2000s also met with fierce opposition and were marred by violence.
But recent Pride marches in Serbia have passed off peacefully, a change cited by EuroPride organisers as one reason why Belgrade was chosen as the 2022 host. Copenhagen was the host in 2021.
Goran Miletic, a director for Europe and MENA at Civil Rights Defenders said the parade could only be prohibited by police decision, but it will be unconstitutional.
"We have the decisions of the Constitutional Court for 2009, 2011, 2012 and 2013, where every ban based on the same model - for the security reasons and so on - is declared unconstitutional," Miletic said.
"The European Court of Human Rights says that if there is a threat to security, that threat must be eliminated by adequate police work," he added.
Far-right political parties and the influential Serbian Orthodox Church have condemned the EuroPride, urging for it to be banned.
Thousands of religious and right-wing opponents of a European gay Pride event to be hosted by Belgrade protested through the Serbian capital on Sunday (August 28).
Serbia is a candidate to join the EU. But to become a member, it must first meet demands to improve the rule of law and its human and minority rights record and must root out organised crime and corruption and mend ties with Kosovo.
(Production: Branko Filipovic, Fedja Grulovic, Malgorzata Wojtunik) - Copyright Holder: FILE REUTERS (CAN SELL)
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