Senior Europride organizer in Serbia says September event will take place no matter what – after President Vucic at weekend called for a cancellation, citing security concerns.

Serbian EuroPride Organiser Insists Event Will Go Ahead

Participants wave a rainbow colored flag during the Belgrade Pride Parade march in Belgrade, Serbia, 18 September 2021. EPA-EFE/ANDREJ CUKIC

Marko Mihailovic, an activist and organizer of Belgrade’s EuroPride, said the event will go ahead despite an apparent presidential call to ban it.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic at the weekend said that, due to security concerns and and the crisis over Kosovo, EuroPride would not take place. On Monday, however, Serbian PM Ana Brnabic, who is gay, suggested this was more of a “plea” than a ban.

“That is a change from the first statement of the President. They cannot ban it because it would be unconstitutional. They would breach four decisions of the Serbian Constitutional Court,” Mihailovic told BIRN.

He said the event will be held as scheduled on September 17, even if Serbia officially bans it. “We will gather no matter what, and we hope that everything will go ahead in peace and that people will come more then ever because of the solidarity,” he said.

He said what worried him most in Vucic’s statement was that the state cannot guarantee people’s safety.

“If the threats [against EuroPride] are real, why is nobody arrested or processed by the judiciary? We’ve known for years who the people are who threaten us, they have their names. I don’t know anyone who has been arrested or anything,” Mihailovic said.

EuroPride is a pan-European international LGBT event hosted by a different European city each year. This time it is supposed to held in Belgrade from September 12-18.

Serbia’s President on Saturday said he regretted having to cancel EuroPride. “We are, of course, violating the rights of minorities this way, but the state is pressed by all possible problems,” he said.

Vucic at the same time confirmed that his new Prime Minister will again be Ana Brnabic, a declared LGBT politician.

Vucic loyalist Brnabic meanwhile supported Vucic’s decision on EuroPride, citing his security concerns as an argument. On Monday, she said that whatever she said on EuroPride, “it will not be good”.

“What the organizers of Pride say is in accordance with the Constitution, but what consequences it has for our country is another question, and the fact that we are telling them not to walk is more of a plea than a ban on anything,” Brnabic said.

Several thousand people gathered in Belgrade on Sunday on a march against EuroPride. Many were holding religious insignia, and, after the walk through the city, signed a petition to ban EuroPride.

Thousands of people gathered earlier in Belgrade in mid-August also to demonstrate against the planned EuroPride event in Belgrade.

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