Serbian anti-gay rioters clash with police

Anti-gay protesters clashed with police on Sunday in Belgrade’s worst street violence since the US embassy was set ablaze two and a half years ago. Some 124 policemen, who had been deployed to protect a gay pride march, and 17 citizens, thought to be anti-gay rioters, were injured, according to Serbian media reports.

Police said they had arrested 207 protesters and held at least 100 for further questioning and possible charges. Extreme nationalist groups and gangs of young football “hooligans” engaged in apparently co-ordinated attacks on buildings linked to political parties in the ruling coalition, after the government protected a gay pride march to prove European Union standards of tolerance.

Dragan Djilas, Belgrade’s mayor, estimated damage to city property at more than €1m ($1.4m). Rioters wrecked 11 police cars, smashed windows and looted shops downtown, police and witnesses said.

The violence raises security questions about the visit of Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state, on Tuesday, as part of a European tour with stops in the Balkans to press for better relations between neighbouring states that were formerly part of Yugoslavia. Nationalist gangs set fire to the US embassy in February 2008 and attacked other foreign missions in response to Kosovo declaring independence. This time, Belgrade was under a security lockdown as 5,000 police deployed to protect the parade. The event – cancelled last year and previously broken up by anti-gay protesters – has come to be seen as an important test of Serbia’s readiness to accept EU standards of tolerance.

A far-right group, Obraz, had plastered the city centre in the past week with posters warning homosexuals: “We wait for you.” Anti-gay protesters – including Obraz and football fan clubs – broke up the Serbian capital’s first gay pride march in 2001 by beating participants. City officials blocked a second parade attempt last year because of security fears.

But the pro-EU government this time gave all necessary protection, in spite of widespread public exasperation at so much attention being given to the parade. The governing coalition hopes to achieve EU candidate status for the Balkan country of about 8m before elections in 2012. EU foreign ministers are to debate Serbia’s candidacy application on October 25.

Police must be capable of protecting “an event that is not liked by the majority”, said Ivica Dacic, interior minister.

Boris Tadic, Serbia’s president and strongest party leader, has recently gained credit in Brussels by expressing regret for 1990s war crimes and toning down objections against independence for Kosovo, which the largest ex-Yugoslav republic still claims as a province. Mr Tadic has met gay groups and backed their right to free expression.

Parade organisers – mainly non-governmental rights activists – anticipated attracting fewer than 1,000 marchers, both homosexual and straight. Placards would be tame, and the event would lack the flamboyant, festive atmosphere usual seen at pride parades in large western cities, they said.

Some foreign embassies, including the Canadian and the Dutch, endorsed the march. EU officials underscored the importance of upholding equal rights for all. Svetozar Ciplic, Serbia’s minister of human and minority rights, said he would march alongside lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender associations in the parade and expected no trouble.

But many homosexuals planned to stay at home, either out of fear or because they disagreed with making a spectacle of their sexual orientation.