Belgrade Pride parade voices rights for LGBT minorities

Around 1,000 people from Serbia and abroad attended the Belgrade Pride parade Sunday and voiced their support for the rights of the LGBT minority in this country.

The Belgrade Pride was successfully held here for the third time in its history, with the heavy security measures implemented by police in city center which was completely blocked by several thousand police officers armed with anti-riot equipment.

Serbia's gays, lesbians, bisexuals and transsexuals walked peacefully from the government building to the parliament followed by their supporters, guests from former Yugoslavian countries, region and other European countries, diplomats of several countries, Belgrade Mayor Sinisa Mali as well as 400 journalists.

Participants carried rainbow flags, blew whistles while alongside them a truck carried stereo system with loud music to which they danced during their march through the city streets.

Member of the organizing board of the Belgrade Pride Boban Stojanovic said that LGBT community demands that several laws get adopted such as those on same-sex relationships, the legal status of transsexual people after they change sex, and appealed to authorities to provide them with better protection against violence.

"We fought for a long time to achieve this and we are happy because today this day came. There are no tensions or any organized violence or protests against this manifestation."

Stojanovic stressed that this year's pride parade was easier to organize than those before, and that the organizers have all the time been in contact with the police that secured the event.

Mayor of Belgrade Sinisa Mali said that the Pride makes Belgrade an open and a free city where people do not accept any discrimination.

"All communal services of Belgrade today work as one to help police in securing that everything takes place with no problems," Mali said in front of the government building.

Mali said that there had been much less security problems in organizing the Pride, that people got used to this event, but more government officials should come here next year.

"I know that PM (Aleksandar Vucic) is against this kind of events, but he had no objections on me coming here and feeling safe together with these people," Mali said, adding that by organizing the Pride parade Serbia shows that it is a "different and a normal country".

Belgrade Pride is part of the Pride Week which started since September 14 and included discussions, lectures and cultural events that deal with LGBT population, and culminated in the march through the Belgrade's central streets. Enditem