EuroPride March Proceeds Despite Arrest of 64 Protesters
The Associated Press.EuroPride organizers and LGBTQ supporters celebrated the fact that the parade was held without large-scale violence as a success, given that opponents had tried to exert their power by compelling authorities to cancel the parade.The European Pride Organizers Association had originally chosen Serbia’s capital as the host city for EuroPride three years ago, in the hope that — like past EuroPride celebrations held in Poland and Latvia, two former Eastern bloc nations known for their social conservatism, in 2010 and 2015, respectively — a successful event would signal that Serbian society was more accepting of LGBTQ progress.Organizers had also hoped that a successful EuroPride would show the country was distancing itself from the more hardline anti-LGBTQ forces in the country, including church leaders, and could draw attention to the need for additional rights and protections for LGBTQ people in the country, including legal recognition of same-sex partnerships.Although several Pride marches have been held in Serbia over the past few years, they have not all been advertised to the extent that EuroPride was, and some of those events — especially the 2001 and 2010 Pride parades — had devolved into violence.Serbian police had banned the parade last week, citing concerns over potential violence from far-right activists and whether local police would have enough officers on hand. In the weeks prior to EuroPride’s opening ceremonies on Sept.