Security Concerns Force Cancellation of Serbian Gay Pride March

The organizers of a Gay Pride March scheduled to take place in the Serbian capital Belgrade have canceled the event after being told by police that the safety of marchers would very likely be compromised.

On September 18 the President of Serbia, Boris Tadic, promised that LGBT and humans rights activists attending the event on Sunday would be protected from the violence that had been threatened by groups opposed to their cause. But a day after that promise was made one of the march's organizers, Dragana Vuckovic, met with Serbia's Prime Minister Mirko Cvektovic and was told that police had recommended the march be switched from Central Belgrade to another location, often used to stage large music events. As Radio Free Europe, quoting a report from Reuters, confirms it was not a recommendation that pleased Ms Vuckovic and she said:

We were told in the meeting with Prime Minister Cvetkovic that the gathering is impossible for security reasons and that we should choose another location. Taking the Pride Parade to another location is simply not acceptable. Pride parades are traditionally organized in the main streets of big cities and the message is that groups kept on the fringes of a society need to be integrated

The BBC reports that groups opposed to the Gay Pride March had been sticking up posters around Belgrade telling marchers "We're expecting you". And it appears that their threats to attack those taking part in the march have been allowed to prevail. Nationalist groups and religious leaders alike oppose legislation that will end discrimination against gays and lesbians. According to the BBC one such group is the Serb Popular Movement 1389 and it has hailed the cancellation of the march as a "a great victory for normal Serbia", boasting that "In our city infidels and Satanists will not pass". The year 1389 is an important one for many Serbians, as it was the year in which the Battle of Kosovo took place. Serbian forces were defeated by those of the Ottoman Empire and among the consequences were Serbian subjugation to the victors for hundreds of years and the recent conflict in Kosovo. It was in 2001 that LGBT activists held their first and only public event in Serbia and Radio Free Liberty says that the event led to numerous injuries amongst its participants and the police as it came under attack from "nationalists, Neo-Nazis, and soccer hooligans".