Pride parades

Organisers of EuroPride 2022 in Belgrade say they will challenge the ban in court and that Saturday's planned walk will go ahead.

The traditional walk, which the organizers insist on holding, is scheduled for Saturday, September 17, starting at 5 p.m. in front of the Serbian Parliament.

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

LGBT community targeted in Serbia, Hungary, Romania

Following the dramatic uptick in digital attacks targeting LGBT communities in the region caused by the announcement of Pride parades in several Balkan countries, anti-LGBT sentiment and homophobic incidents have not abated.

Pride Parades attract hate speech in Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia

Pride parades in Sarajevo and Skopje on June 25 prompted numerous digital rights violations which followed the common pattern of online hate speech against the LGBT+ community.

Global Pride event in Istanbul, June 2020. Photo: EPA-EFE/SEDAT SUNA

"We have obtained information that between 21.06.2022 (Tuesday) and 23.06.2022 (Thursday) gatherings, press releases, marches, distribution of leaflets, etc. are planned to be held within the scope of the 30th Istanbul LGBTI+ Pride Week," the governors' offices said in a statement.

Turkish police detained at least 46 people on June 26 in Istanbul who gathered in the city's central İstiklal Avenue for a Pride parade.

The statement from the local police headquarters noted that local authorities banned the planned LGBT march at Taksim Square and along İstiklal Avenue.

Violence shapes our lives way before we gather the nerve to come out to our friends, colleagues, and finally our family. Even when we personally are not the direct target, it is still somehow directed at us. The possibility that our bodies are going to be those that are kicked and broken, and that those slurs will be shouted in our face, is very much real. We are an at-risk group.

The Third Pride Week in Kosovo began on Monday with a reception in the government building where several top officials, including the President, Hashim Thaci, were present. The opening will continue with Majlinda Hoxha's artistic exhibition, "QUEIN," at the Institute for Urbanism and Design.

A long column of people attending the Belgrade Pride Parade - motto, "I'm not giving up" - and marking the end of Pride week, passed near the Serbian Presidency building, the city and national parliaments and continued to the government building. The organisers of the event then addressed the crowd about the demands of the community.