LATVIA
Riga Ready for Gay Pride
Authorities are taking no chances
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RIGA, June 2, 2007 — The Riga city authorities are tonight putting-in security measures around the downtown Vermanes Park in a bid to prevent supporters of the No Pride group from disrupting tomorrow’s Gay Pride March. For the organisers of Pride, it should be third time lucky. The very first Pride was marred by violent protestors and last year’s was banned — the ban being the subject of litigation which ended with the Regional Court ruling that the ban was unlawful. Additionally, the Constitutional Court ruled that seeking permission for any form of ‘demonstration’ was unconstitutional, though organisers must give prior notice. Authorities are taking no chances on possible counter demonstrations by Pride protestors, and a large police presence is expected. The police were, last year, embarrassed by the whole situation. But as one officer told the local press a year ago, the police were under orders not to prevent the protestors from making their demonstration, leaving them with virtually a free hand. Tomorrow, the No Pride group are staging a rally, which will include pop groups, by the riverside. Prides in both London and Stockholm have not faced such problems as has beset Riga in the past two years. Pride London, which is ‘twinned’ with Riga Pride, are represented here by six from the organising committee, led by Paul Birrell (chair) and Jason Pollock (chief executive). They explained to delegates at a Friendship Day conference at the Riga Graduate School of Law the 35-year history of Pride in the UK capital, while their counterparts from Stockholm told of the Pride tradition in the Swedish capital. Both groups also pointed out the economic advantages that each city gained from their annual Pride. The two capitals also gave presentations on the way homophobia and hate crimes were addressed. Detective Sergeant Sharon Stratton of the Metropolitan Police said that they had been collecting data for ten years, with 13,000 reports of homophobic hate crime reported last year — 23 per cent of all complaints were “detected”, culprits either being cautioned or taken to court. “But homophobic hate crime is still under-reported,” she suggested. Detective Constable Tony Forsyth said that officers working in the special LGBT sections of each division had links with the agencies and other UK police forces. And he revealed that a number of officers had Gaydar accounts and profiles, which has resulted in many Gaydar users asking anonymously for advice. “We were even able to identify a murder suspect though Gaydar,” he said. Captain Krister Fahlsted of the Swedish Air Frce outined the work being done in the All Clear project, funded by the European Union. This project addresses the matter of sexual orientation in the workplace.
Posted:
2 June 2007 at
22:30 UK
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