Pride March Takes Place in Belgrade

Pride March (BETAPHOTO/MILAN ILIC

A Pride March took place in Belgrade on Sept. 5, when several thousand members of the LGBTQ community and their allies marched down the streets of the Serbian capital behind a banner reading, "There Is Room for Us All - 25 Years of the Belgrade Pride."

The demonstrators carried a large number of rainbow flags and signs, some of which read, "Visibility is not propaganda," "God loves everyone," "Queer students will win too," "We vote on Oct. 25 too." The event was attended by many representatives of embassies and European delegations, the Green-Left Front, the Free Citizens Movement, and Milan Antonijevic, commissioner for the protection of equality. Andreas von Beckerath, the head of the European Union Delegation to Serbia, also participated in the march.

This year's Pride "godmother," N1 TV journalist Danica Vucenic, said the march is still taking place in an atmosphere of threats against the community's human rights and unfulfilled demands. "The Pride is taking place at a time of glorification of violence, severe threats against human rights, on the anniversary of police brutality at the Novi Sad University campus, in an atmosphere of increased attacks on the LGBT population, and none of the community's eight demands have been met," Vucenic said.

After the march, which passed the government headquarters and parliament building, a music program was held in Manjez park. No major incidents occurred, owing, among to other things, to a strong police presence and the closure of streets.