The fallout from a canceled Gay Pride
parade in Serbia might be a ban on violent political groups, the AFP
reported.
Speaking on Serbian television Monday,
junior justice minister Slobodan Homen said the government was
considering banning “all organizations that voice threats.”
He mentioned by name the two
ultranationalist groups that forced the closure of a planned
September 20 Belgrade Gay Pride parade: Obraz (Honor) and Serb
Popular Movement 1389.
Gay groups agreed to call off their
parade after the government warned it could not guarantee the
parade's safety. Insufficient security during its last parade in
2001 turned the protest into chaotic violence when extremists
attacked.
But nationalists, who had cheered the
decision as a defeat for “infidels and satanists,” proceeded with
their anti-gay demonstration, even after officials banned all public
gatherings in the center of the city.
The Associated Press reported
that 46 extremists were arrested by police on Sunday.
Three foreigners were violently
attacked in Belgrade, the nation's capital and largest city, in the
days leading up to the anti-gay protest. The BBC reported that a
Sunday attack on a 25-year-old Australian man followed an earlier
attack on a 28-year-old French football fan who remains in critical
condition. Up to 11 men could be charged with attempted murder for
attacking three French football fans on Thursday, officials said.
UKgaynews.com
reported a British citizen was attacked in the city center on
Thursday evening.
The site also reported that a
Gay Pride event hosted by Krister Bringeus, the Swedish
ambassador to Serbia, took place in the Belgrade suburbs, and drew
about 50 people.
“Pride is all about the message of
tolerance,” Bringeus told the crowd. “I am very sorry that Pride
didn't take place. But welcome to this small Pride event.”
On Friday, Belgrade Mayor Dragan Djilas
came out in favor of outlawing “groups and organizations that
condone violence.”