Serbia’s Authorities Expect Clashes during Belgrade Gay Pride Parade
BalkanTravellers.com
Authorities expect that the clashes will leave people wounded. According to the document, football fans and ultra-right formations are getting organized to come by bus from all over Serbia and Republika Srpska in Bosnia and Herzegovina, in order to take part in a counter-protest against the parade.
In addition to physical clashes with participants, fans of the football clubs Crvena zvezda and Rada also plan attacks on the policemen that will be protecting the event.
According to the document, it is expected that the football fans will incite an incident in the broad centre of Belgrade, with which to attract police attention while they clash with the parade participants.
Supporters of the nationalistic organisations Obraz, Pokret 1389 and Nashi are expected to mix with the participants in order to incite fights within the actual parade. The homophobes, it is thought, will be carrying stones, torches, Molotov cocktails and tear gas.
Authorities predict that a large number of gay activists, policemen and bystanders will be injured, and damage to property will also be inflicted. State institutions may also be attacked for allowing the event to take place.
Leaders of the organisations opposing the gay parade told Politika that they don’t intend on engaging in physical violence against the participants but also warned that they could not guarantee for the actions of their supporters.
The gay pride parade’s organisation in Serbia caused massive controversy and was strongly opposed not just by far-right formations and football fans, but also by parent organisations and the church, as BalkanTravellers.com reported in July.
The number of people expected to support the event is not very high, especially after the homophobic threats. About 300 gay activists and 100 cultural life activists, who support the freedom of sexual choice, are expected to march on Sunday.
This will be Belgrade’s second attempt at organizing a gay pride parade. The first one in June of 2001 was forcibly halted when opponents seriously injuring several participants and policemen, as BalkanTravellers.com wrote.
Read more about Serbia on BalkanTravellers.com
Use BalkanTravellers.com's tips to organize your trip to Serbia
Epicure
Turkey
Izmir Gourmet: Food is in the Air
Food is literally everywhere in Izmir.
The first stop a traveller would usually make, is Passaport – the vivid promenade along the seaside, which has turned into a landmark with its black and white pavement.
Full Story
Curiosity Chest
Turkey
Santa Claus Museum in Turkey to Attract Newlyweds and Tourists
4 May 2010 | A Turkish travel agency intends to popularize the birthplace of Santa Claus’s prototype, Saint Nicholas the Wonderworker, in present-day Turkey, not just as a tourist but also as a wedding destination. Full Story
Useful Reads
Turkey
A Brief History of the Late Ottoman Empire (2008) | By M. Şűkrű Hanioğlu
Far too often, the narrative of the collapse of an empire becomes a moral drama. Wealth is drained away by decadence, and power undercut by corruption. There are attempts at recovery, reform, re-consolidation; perhaps a war, or a grand alliance, or another gamble which seems mad in hindsight. Private fiefdoms emerge, tribes break away, and hostile external powers chip away at the borders.
Full Story
Music
Macedonia
Macedonia: Esma Redžepova's Passion for Humanity
"A Gypsy from the city of Skopje", as she calls herself, Esma Redžepova has more than 40 years of singing and humanitarian efforts under her belt. Full Story
-
Photogalleries
-
A Perfect Shot
Koprivshtitsa Fair, Bulgara. Photographs by Neva Micheva
In Homo Urbanus Europeanus, exhibited May 9-24 in front of the National Theatre in Sofia, Jean-Marc Caracci presents his photographs of people in the urban environment of European capitals.
RED&WHITE SOFIA. On the 1st of March Bulgarians say goodbye to the winter. They buy each other red&white threads to carry around until they see a stork and spring can begin. Photography by Lode Desmet
BULGARIA D'OR: The Bulgarian countryside, patinated with the noble golden dust of the autumn. Photographs by Lode Desmet
360 degrees Bulgaria, an exhibition by photographer Alexandar Ivanov, is on display at the Sea Garden in Varna until August 28. It will be shown at Plovdiv’s Central Square from Sept 5.
The exhibition Photographs of a Trip Through Bulgaria by Hungarian photographer András Balla can be seen in Sofia's Hungarian Cultural Institute, at Aksakov 16 Street, until August 22
Instant Spring in Sofia | Photographs by Lode Desmet
Off-the-season Beauty of Bulgaria's Black Sea Coast | Photographs by Adelina Iliev
Bulgaria's Northern Black Sea Coast
Photographs by Albena Shkodrova
excellent smugs
