Pride march held in conservative Serbia under heavy police protection

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — A Pride march on Saturday in Serbia's capital pressed for the demand that the populist government improve the rights of the LGBTQ+ community who often face harassment and discrimination in the highly conservative Balkan country.

The march in central Belgrade was held under heavy police protection because of possible attacks from right-wing extremists. Organizers said assailants had assaulted a young gay man in Belgrade two days ago and took away his rainbow flag in the latest incident.

Serbia is formally seeking entry into the European Union but its democratic record is poor. Serbia's LGBTQ+ community is demanding that authorities pass a law allowing same-sex partnerships and boosting other rights.

“We can't even walk freely without heavy (police) cordons securing the gathering,” said Ivana Ilic Sunderic, a resident of Belgrade.

The event on Saturday was held under the slogan ‘Pride are people.’ It also included a concert and a party after the march.

Participants carried rainbow flags and various banners as they danced to loud music played from a truck at the front. The crowd passed by the Serbian government headquarters and the National Assembly building.

Dozens of Russians, who fled the war in Ukraine and the regime of President Vladimir Putin, also could be seen at the march. Mikhail Afanasev said that it was good to be there despite the Belgrade Pride being cordoned off by police.

“I came from Russia where I am completely prohibited as person, as gay, (a) human being,” he said, referring to the pressure on gay people in Putin's Russia. "We want to love, we want to live in a free society, and to have those rights, like all other people have.”

No incidents were reported. Regional N1 television said that a small group of opponents sang nationalist and religious songs at one point along the route, carrying a banner that read: Parade-Humiliation.

Western ambassadors in Serbia, opposition politicians and liberal ministers from the Serbian government joined the event. But the right-wing Belgrade mayor openly opposed the Pride gathering.

Pride marches in Belgrade had been marked in the past by tensions and sometimes skirmishes and clashes between extremist groups and police. The populist government of President Aleksandar Vucic in 2022 first banned a pan-European pride event in Belgrade but later backed down and allowed the march to take place.