Thousands take to streets in Serbia to protest LGBTQ rights as president tries to cancel EuroPride

Europride in Vienna, Austria, June 2019.
Photo: Wikimedia Commons

On Sunday in Belgrade, a massive rally took over the Serbian capital, protesting a pan-European Pride event — that had already been cancelled.

The march was led by the Serbian Orthodox Church and joined by a collection of right-wing hate groups and pro-Russian nationalists. Bishops warned the event was a threat to traditional family values, according to Reuters.

Protesters displayed crosses and other religious iconography while carrying anti-LGBTQ signs declaring “Save Our Children.”

The day before, the president of Serbia announced plans to cancel the long-planned EuroPride in the city, using the excuse that there’s just too much going on. Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic claimed the country is facing too many problems to handle the event.

The EuroPride celebration was to take place September 12-18.

While conceding the cancellation would be “a violation of minority rights,” Vucic said “at this moment the state is pressured by numerous problems,” citing economic woes, tensions with neighboring Kosovo, and threats from far-right extremists.

Organizers weren’t buying it.

“President Vucic cannot cancel someone else’s event,” said Kristine Garina, president of the European Pride Organizers Association (EPOA), the event’s organizer. “The right to hold Pride has been ruled by the European Court of Human Rights to be a fundamental human right.”

Vucic made the announcement at a press conference where he also proposed extending the term of…

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