Gay Pride in Serbia may be banned again this year as it was last year, Reuters reports:
Prime Minister Ivica Dacic, who also serves as interior minister, said on Monday the planned parade – whose purpose it to call for better and more gay rights in the predominantly Serbian Orthodox Christian society – was a major security risk. "So far we have received only partial security assessments and we may ban the parade if it proves a high-risk gathering," he told reporters.
The authorities outlawed last year's parade at the last moment for the same reason and dozens were injured the year before in violent clashes between police and ultranationalists unhappy about the event.
This year, rightists want to hold a counter-rally in the Serb capital on Saturday, the day of the planned gay parade, and have also threatened to disrupt an exhibition by Swedish artist Elisabeth Ohlson Wallin, which they say mocks Jesus Christ because it shows him in female clothes and high heels.
Serbia's 2010 Gay Pride was its first since 2001. Hundreds of right-wing protesters attacked and injured more than 100 people, including many of the 5,000 thousand police officers that were there to protect marchers.
