Anti-Gay Protesters Clash with Police in Serbia

 Boris Tadic, Serbia  President

Belgrade the Serbian capital on Sunday witnessed what observers referred to as the worst violence in over two years, when a gay rights parade erupted in serious violence.


Adam TannerAdam Tanner report in Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/)  said that thousands of police deployed to protect marchers clashed with anti-gay protesters, who rioted and attacked the headquarters of the ruling parties.

He observed that more than 110 police were injured in pitched battles with gangs of nationalists and skinheads, and that one of the 1,500 marchers was badly beaten as he arrived home in a nearby suburb.

“Pushed back from the parade area by 5,000 police in riot gear, protesters turned to other targets, breaking into the lobby of the state television network, scaling scaffolding to try to enter parliament, smashing windows at the Austrian embassy and burning a car in front of the French embassy,” he stated.

According to him, firefighters extinguished a blaze at the headquarters of the Democratic Party, led by President Boris Tadic and the premises of their coalition partner adding that the Socialist Party was also attacked before calm was restored by early evening.

In a statement, the Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac called it a "really sad day for Serbia" and vowed to bring the people behind the violence to justice. "Serbia will secure human rights for all its citizens regardless of their diversity. No one will tolerate attempts to threaten them.

Tanner further said that the clashes highlighted the intolerance that still pervades Serbian society a decade after the country ousted strongman Slobodan MilosevicSlobodan Milosevic, ending the pariah status that dogged it during the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

He noted that the parade, the first of its kind in Belgrade in nearly a decade, had been seen as a test of Serbia's readiness to become a more modern, open society after years of conflict fuelled by ethnic hatred.

“The violence occurred just two days before a planned visit of United States (U.S) Secretary of State, Hillary ClintonHillary Clinton, who wants to highlight Washington's support for Belgrade's European Union (EU) aspirations,” he also said.

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