A Gay Pride Parade in Croatia ended in
violence on Saturday, the AP reported.
The news service is reporting that
participants were pelted with rocks, bottles and firecrackers.
Police in the city of Split detained at
least 100 people people and many others were injured. The violence
brought the march to an end.
The roughly 200 people that
participated in the parade were dwarfed by the thousands who lined up
behind iron fences to protest the march, titled Different
Families, Same Rights.
“It is a disgrace that the police
failed to adequately protect participants of today's march,” said
Nicola Duckworth, Amnesty International's director for Europe and
Central Asia.
“The authorities must hold an
immediate investigation into what happened,” he added. “The
police have to make absolutely clear that discriminatory violence is
a criminal offense and will not be tolerated.”
Duckworth went on to call on lawmakers
to condemn the violence.
“The Croatian authorities need to act
to stop this happening in [the] future. A first step would be for
all political leaders to state unequivocally that everyone has the
right to peacefully demonstrate and express their identity.”
At least one Gay Pride participant was
taken to the hospital.
The attack comes a day after Croatia
was approved to join the European Union in 2013.