Serbian parliament committees call for safe Pride Parade

BELGRADE - The Serbian parliament committees for human and minority rights, gender equality and EU integration called on Tuesday on the authorities to ensure the Belgrade Pride Parade scheduled for Sunday went through without incident, and they appealed to the people to keep the event in the spirit of tolerance.

The committees held a joint meeting, which was attended for the first time by officials of LGBT organisations, along with those of the government and independent government bodies, and they expressed unanimous support for the citizens with different sexual orientation and their freedom of assembly, adding that they were entitled to it by the Constitution and law.

The committees decided to call for the adoption of a declaration on banning hate speech and hate crimes.

Head of the committee on human and minority rights Meho Omerovic said the committees had asked the authorities, especially the police, to endure that the Pride Parade went through without incident, and that both the participants and buildings along the parade's route were kept safe.
"The government has to let everyone know clearly, whether that be right-wing activists, sport hooligans, members of some organisations or of crime rings, that no one is stronger than the government, and that, in the interest of its people and the law, it is capable of making sure a protest was held peacefully, in this case one by the LGBT community, and that all citizens were entitled to that," Omerovic noted.

Gender Equality Commissioner Nevena Petrusic said the problem all members of the LGBT community faced was not theirs alone, but of the entire society, because it constituted a proof of the intolerance, homophobia, ignorance and prejudice present in the society....