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Belgrade Gay Pride Cancelled 24 Hours Before Event Because of “Security Concerns”

The Republic of Serbia has capitulated, we have not – Pride organisers

I came all this way for nothing – Moscow gay activist
 

■ “I came all this way for nothing,” says Russian gay activist Nikolai Baev, pictured here picketing earlier this year in Ryazan. photo courtesy Gay Russia.ru

BELGRADE, September 19, 2009  –  Nikolai Baev, a co-organiser of Moscow Pride, arrived in Belgrade at lunchtime looking forward to taking part in his very first Pride march.

But when he got to his hotel his excitement turned to sorrow when he learned that tomorrow’s Belgrade Pride march had been suddenly cancelled by the organisers when the Serbian Government announced this morning that the parade in the city centre could not go ahead but offered an alternative location in the suburbs.

“I came all this way for nothing,” he told UK Gay News.

“So it appears that Moscow is the only capital city where Pride organisers have not given in to the authorities who don’t want a Pride in a city centre,” he added.

Mr. Baev flew in from Moscow with Nikolai Alekseev and said that there were skinheads at the airport when they arrived.

Nationalist groups, skinheads and religious organisations had vowed to disrupt the gay parade, some of them inciting violence.

But the authorities from the Serbian President downwards had backed the rights of the gay community to stage the parade, which was scheduled for lunchtime tomorrow (September 20).

“The government has ordered state institutions to take all necessary measures to stop violence, uncover and arrest those who threaten with violence,” an earlier government statement said.  “The government will ensure public order and peace, the security of the citizens and property, and the right of every citizen to enjoy his or her constitutional and legally guaranteed rights.

But it was “security concerns” that led government officials from prohibiting the planned parade, and suggesting an alternative out-of-town venue, a wooded area on the banks of the Danube in Ušće.

Nikolai Alekseev, who runs the GayRussia.ru Website and is a co-organiser of Moscow Pride, told UK Gay News that he could not understand the cancellation.

“The authorities seem to have put any personal views of gay matters to one side and to back the rights of the gay community to hold the Pride Parade.

“Even the President called for the neo-fascists, religious groups and others who objected to back-off.  But it appears right now that the authorities decided that they would not be able to provide safety at the planned venue, but offered an alternative that was not acceptable to the organisers,” he said.

Reports indicate that organisers of Belgrade Pride met this morning with Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković, who said that the risk of excessive attacks on the rally was too great for police to guarantee safety for everyone involved.

Krister Bringeus, the Swedish Ambassador in Belgrade, said it was “sad and strange” that Gay Pride had been cancelled.

It was Sweden, which currently holds the Presidency of the European Union, that on Thursday issued a statement of support for Belgrade Pride from the EU.

The statement was quickly and widely endorsed by other EU member states, including the Netherlands and the UK.

“The Pride Parade is a normal thing in Europe, especially in 2009,” he pointed out on television at lunchtime.  For me it was a natural thing for the same thing to happen in Belgrade.

This afternoon, the organising committee of Belgrade Pride issues a statement about the cancellation.

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