Gay pride march banned in Serbia

Police said they were banning the march planned for Saturday because they feared a repeat of the violence in 2010, when right-wing groups attacked a Gay Pride event in Belgrade. That triggered day-long clashes with the police which left more than 100 people injured.

Last year's gay pride march also was banned by authorities.

The current ban was announced after Patriarch Irinej, the head of Serbia's Christian Orthodox church, urged the government to prevent Saturday's march. In a statement, he said such a "parade of shame" would cast a "moral shadow" on Serbia — a conservative Balkan country whose gay population has faced threats and harassment.

Allowing a Gay Pride march this year had been regarded by some as a test of Serbia's pledge to respect human rights as it seeks European Union membership. That was clear in the reaction of European Parliament official Jelko Kacin, who called the ban a "political decision that questions the rule of law in Serbia."

Secretary-General Thorbjoern Jagland of the Council of Europe, the continent's main human rights body, said he was "surprised and disappointed" that the pride event has been banned again.

"Citizens should be able to exercise their rights of freedom of assembly and freedom of expression," he said. "Serbia should be in a position to safeguard such an event, which is commonplace in modern democracies."