Serb anti-gay protesters attack political party offices

[Netko]

Pretty much - the EU all but demanded that Serbia hold a gay pride parade since the local gay rights groups wanted to hold it for years now, but, with an exception of a similarly bloody event several years back, they weren't being given permits do to (obviously not really fictional) safety concerns. The EU objected that the police should protect such a parade, not simply disallow it - and demanded it as a condition of further progress in EU talks as a clear demonstration of allowing and supporting legitimate minority rights activism.

Of course, when the ultranationalists got the message that they could combine blocking EU talks with bashing gays and generally smashing up stuff - well, it was like winning the jackpot; there were going to be riots. Especially when the Serbian orthodox church chimed in to support violently suppressing the march, as well as the usual ultranationalist backers opening their coffers.

The locals (Belgradians) were not really fooled - as much as they might be ambivalent about gays at best, they were really pissed off at the ultranationalist scum planning to riot. To quote from a pretty iconic video - a Belgrade policeman as he's making a punk kiss the pavement: "You want to smash up my beautiful Belgrade? Well, you wont!". Unfortunately, he wasn't really right - the damage is estimated in the multimillion range, while 121 policemen were injured during the riots along with an unknown number of the rioters. The police have been rounding up the rioters in the last couple of days.

Its really interesting though - in some ways, among those on the fence, as well as especially the police (of all people), what the ultranationalists did only strengthened the rather tenuous support gay rights have in Serbia. A Belgrade policeman that posts on a local forum I visit has stated that the police will have no problems with authorising another parade - its a matter of their own pride at this point, and wanting to smash up any punks that plan a repeat of these riots.