Police won’t ban Pride Parade, minister says

Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic says police will not ban the gay Pride Parade in Belgrade and called on all parties to voice their stance on the issue. He said that holding of the parade, scheduled for October 2, represented a great security risk, pointing out that there was no possibility of the police banning it because the entire responsibility would than “be shifted to the police”. Police won’t ban Pride Parade, minister says “Let politicians come forward and say what they want, they should not be hiding behind the police,” the minister stressed. When asked whether there was any pressure from Europe to organize the Pride Parade, he said there was. “That’s a topic of all the talks with Europe,” he said. According to him, police are in accordance with their authority still making security assessments for the Pride Parade. Dacic believes that a slogan that Serbia will never recognize Kosovo is an empty line that is non-binding. “I mean, we will not recognize (Kosovo independence), but we will recognize everything else,” he pointed out. He explained that Europe was being untruthful when it said it would not force Serbia to recognize Kosovo’s independence, but added that it was also important whether Kosovo would have all the elements of a state. The interior minister stated that Serbian politicians were “pretending to be naive a little bit” and wondered whether they thought that “the people are crazy”. “Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) leader Tomislav Nikolic said yesterday that the EU will not condition Serbia with recognition of Kosovo’s independence for the sake of getting the candidate status. Of course it won’t but it will ask us to abolish our institutions in northern Kosovo, to recognize customs crossings as border crossings and so on. What is that, it’s the same thing,” he stressed. Dacic pointed out that Serbs were entitled to have their own institutions in Kosovo just like Albanians had rights that had been recognized in the world. He said that Kosovo Serbs did not recognize the “independent state of Kosovo” and that this was the end of the discussion. “What are we supposed to do, make them? Than it’s better to say ‘people, give up, come to Serbia all of you’ and that’s it than to tell them fairy tales. Does anyone think that people are that naive,” the interior minister said. Addressing a recent initiative to build a monument to former Serbian and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic in the southern town of Prokuplje, Dacic said that he did not launch the initiative and that Aleksandar Vulin’s Socialist Movement was behind it. “This is an attempt to create an extreme situation that could show that cooperation between the DS (Democratic Party) and the SPS (Socialist Party of Serbia) was impossible and that it should be avoided. Those are political issues that are completely diverting attention from main topics,” the interior minister pointed out. Ivica Dacic (FoNet, file)

Police won’t ban Pride Parade, minister says

“Let politicians come forward and say what they want, they should not be hiding behind the police,” the minister stressed.

When asked whether there was any pressure from Europe to organize the Pride Parade, he said there was.

“That’s a topic of all the talks with Europe,” he said.

According to him, police are in accordance with their authority still making security assessments for the Pride Parade.

Dačić believes that a slogan that Serbia will never recognize Kosovo is an empty line that is non-binding.

“I mean, we will not recognize (Kosovo independence), but we will recognize everything else,” he pointed out.

He explained that Europe was being untruthful when it said it would not force Serbia to recognize Kosovo’s independence, but added that it was also important whether Kosovo would have all the elements of a state.

The interior minister stated that Serbian politicians were “pretending to be naive a little bit” and wondered whether they thought that “the people are crazy”.

“Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) leader Tomislav Nikolić said yesterday that the EU will not condition Serbia with recognition of Kosovo’s independence for the sake of getting the candidate status. Of course it won’t but it will ask us to abolish our institutions in northern Kosovo, to recognize customs crossings as border crossings and so on. What is that, it’s the same thing,” he stressed.

Dačić pointed out that Serbs were entitled to have their own institutions in Kosovo just like Albanians had rights that had been recognized in the world. He said that Kosovo Serbs did not recognize the “independent state of Kosovo” and that this was the end of the discussion.

“What are we supposed to do, make them? Than it’s better to say ‘people, give up, come to Serbia all of you’ and that’s it than to tell them fairy tales. Does anyone think that people are that naive,” the interior minister said.

Addressing a recent initiative to build a monument to former Serbian and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević in the southern town of Prokuplje, Dačić said that he did not launch the initiative and that Aleksandar Vulin’s Socialist Movement was behind it.

“This is an attempt to create an extreme situation that could show that cooperation between the DS (Democratic Party) and the SPS (Socialist Party of Serbia) was impossible and that it should be avoided. Those are political issues that are completely diverting attention from main topics,” the interior minister pointed out.