Serbian police officers. File photoBELGRADE, Sep 17Over 60 people were detained at protests against the gay parade in Belgrade, 10 police officers were slightly injured, Prime Minister Ana Brnabic said. The streets in the center of Belgrade were closed to traffic since Saturday morning. The quarters around the country's parliament and the Constitutional Court, where supporters of the gay parade gathered, were blocked by police cordons, and protective fences were installed on some streets. Surrounded on all sides by heavily equipped police, Euro Pride participants gathered around 4 pm (5 pm Moscow time) at the entrance to the Constitutional Court and danced with music in the street, several Albanians shouted greetings to the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo in Albanian. U.S. Ambassador Christopher Hill and European Parliament representative Volodymyr Bilchik were seen among the several thousand gathered with rainbow-colored umbrellas and symbols of the action.Serbia did not support 36 decisions on sanctions against Russia»Today, about 5.2 thousand employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were involved in the streets of Belgrade, we had two incidents — a conflict between certain groups on Slavia Square and in Karađorđe Park, in both cases, the employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs reacted in a timely manner, solved the problems and ensured the non-proliferation of incidents,» Brnabic said at a briefing. «Due to the incidents, 64 people were detained, ten policemen received minor injuries,» the head of government specified, adding that Serbia showed itself as a serious state, «which kept its word, given to the citizens.» Opponents of Euro Pride gathered in groups at several police cordons, where they got into skirmishes with law enforcement officers. Among them were traditional patriots with national flags, icons and Orthodox symbols, as well as young people in tracksuits and hoods pulled over their heads with their faces covered with protective masks. At the Avtokommanda junction outside the city center, football fans threw several flares at police officers, but were quickly dispersed. The Ministry of Internal Affairs reported that until 15.00 (16.00 Moscow time) 31 people were detained in the capital for violating public order and indicated that they would not allow collisions, threats to health and lives, and damage to property.
The EU called on the Serbian authorities to allow the gay pride paradeAbout 17.30 (18.30 Moscow time), participants in the gay parade from the building of the Constitutional Court through the adjacent park set off in a column between reinforced police cordons to the nearby Tašmajdan Stadium, where they are holding a thematic concert. Not a single opponent of Euro Pride could attack the participants of the event, who were separated by the police several streets from the protesters. Earlier, the organizers and supporters of the gay parade collected 27 thousand signatures on a petition to the Serbian authorities with a request to allow the procession, an open letter with a similar appeal was signed by 22 Western embassies countries in Belgrade. The Euro Pride 2022 website has published a new, shortened route for the procession to the venue of the themed concert at the stadium. The agency had previously banned marches scheduled for September 17 as part of the EuroPride gay festival, as well as a «family march» in Belgrade due to the risk of unrest. The Supreme Prosecutor's Office also recalled the ban on meetings on Saturday with the participation of more than 20 people and fines for participants and organizers from 30,000 dinars (250 euros) for individuals to 2 million dinars (17,000 euros) for legal entities. Serbian Interior Minister Alexander Vulin on Friday condemned the calls by US Ambassador Hill and head of the permanent EU delegation Emmanuel Jofre to hold a gay pride parade in Belgrade, despite the authorities' ban. Several mass marches took place in Belgrade in August-September in defense of traditional values and the family. On September 11, up to 30 thousand citizens with the flags of Serbia and Russia, icons and patriotic symbols, crosses and banners marched from the building of the Patriarchate of the Serbian Orthodox Church to the largest church of St. Sava. Many parents took their children with them, bikers were at the head of the column, representatives of the Orthodox clergy were walking with the citizens. Serbian Patriarch Porfiry said after the prayer service that Orthodox believers do not impose their values on anyone, but they will not allow alien LGBT propaganda to be imposed on themselves. threatens the whole world
