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Europride parade in Belgrade
Photo: Darko Vojinovic / dpa
The Europride parade was celebrated in Belgrade to the displeasure of the government and authorities.
Around 1000 participants demonstrated in the Serbian capital in sometimes pouring rain for the rights of homosexuals, lesbians and other members of the LGBTIQ+ community.
The police created a secured corridor along the march route for the parade.
In this way, she kept outnumbered far-right and ultra-clerical counter-demonstrators.
Originally, the rainbow parade should have gone through half of the city center.
But the Ministry of the Interior deviated from the practice of previous years and banned the event.
On Saturday, the Serbian Administrative Court rejected a complaint by the organizers against the Interior Ministry's decision.
Significantly shortened route
The public prosecutor threatened the participants of a potentially "illegal demonstration" with draconian fines.
The organizers informed the Ministry of the Interior about a significantly shortened route.
The authorities did not respond until the parade began.
Pride marches have been held in Belgrade since 2014 without incident but amid heavy police presence.
In 2001 and 2010, the parade of the national LGBTQ+ movement was overshadowed by violence and riots.
This year, Belgrade was the first city in south-eastern Europe to be awarded the right to host a Europride.
Several MEPs and European politicians attended.
At the end of August, Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić announced that the Pride would be canceled or postponed.
Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine, the right-wing nationalist has oriented himself more closely to Russia than before.
In this sense, he also seeks proximity to the ultra-conservative and pro-Russian Serbian Orthodox Church.
Right-wing extremists and clerical circles have held so-called anti-Pride processions in Belgrade in recent weeks.
kfr/dpa