Serbian Gay Rights Group Forced to Cancel Pride Parade

The Sept. 20 gay pride parade in Belgrade, Serbia, was canceled Sept. 19 under pressure from police and the government, who said they couldn’t protect the marchers from thousands of violent anti-gay hooligans who planned to attack the event. March opponents had covered walls in the city center with graffiti that said, “We will get you,” “Death to faggots” and “Blood will flow,” and had spoken openly to reporters about the planned assault. Serbia had not had a gay pride parade since 2001, when dozens of marchers and police officers were injured by marauding neo-Nazis, nationalists and soccer fans. The decision to call off the parade came after organizers met with Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, who proposed moving the march away from the city center. Organizers rejected that idea. “The message of equal rights is transmitted symbolically when a group on the margins is able to parade in the center of the capital,” said organizer Dragana Vuckovic. Full Story from the Bay Times: http://www.sfbaytimes.com/?sec=article&article_id=11569

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