Minister: Police won’t ban gay Pride Parade

Serbia’s Interior Minister Ivica Dacic says that police will not ban gay Pride Parade scheduled for October 2 in Belgrade. He points out that it is a political decision and that only the government could make such decisions. Minister: Police won’t ban gay Pride Parade “I don’t want police to do it, let the Serbian government do it because it is in charge of that. Police is in charge of enforcing the laws and they have the right to hold the gathering according to the law,” the interior minister explained. Dacic stressed, however, that holding of the Pride Parade represented a big security risk. He repeated that many police officers, who had been protecting the parade participants from the extremists, had been injured during last year’s Pride Parade in Belgrade. “If they are too aggressive, police are criticized for violating human rights, if they are passive they take the beating and there is no riot anywhere in the word where policemen take more beating than protesters and where there are more injured policemen than demonstrators,” the minister said, commenting on the 2010 Pride Parade. Ivica Dacic (Tanjug, file)

Minister: Police won’t ban gay Pride Parade

“I don’t want police to do it, let the Serbian government do it because it is in charge of that. Police is in charge of enforcing the laws and they have the right to hold the gathering according to the law,” the interior minister explained.

Dačić stressed, however, that holding of the Pride Parade represented a big security risk.

He repeated that many police officers, who had been protecting the parade participants from the extremists, had been injured during last year’s Pride Parade in Belgrade.

“If they are too aggressive, police are criticized for violating human rights, if they are passive they take the beating and there is no riot anywhere in the word where policemen take more beating than protesters and where there are more injured policemen than demonstrators,” the minister said, commenting on the 2010 Pride Parade.