Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic on Saturday announced that the pan-European LGBTQ+ EuroPride, scheduled to take place in the capital city of Belgrade next month has been shelved.
Citing growing tension with Kosovo as one of the primary reasons for the cancellation, the Balkan President stated that only a miracle could put the event back on track.
“The pride parade, however you call that thing, scheduled for September, will be postponed or cancelled,”
Vucic further added that his government needed to deal with other crisis:
“We can’t at this moment when we have both the open Balkans and the crisis in Kosovo and Metohija that will not end at least until 31 October, we have no progress, we have nowhere to move. We have to deal with energy, and drought, we have many crises.”
WATCH | Tensions between Serbia and Kosovo erupt once more over licence plates
It is pertinent to note that members of the European Pride Organisers Association (EPOA) had chosen Belgrade as the host city for the annual event, almost three years ago.
Thus, the sudden cancellation of the event has invited harsh criticism from LGBTQ+ activists. Kristine Garina, President of EPOA urged the authorities to honour their promise of supporting the event.
“President Vucic cannot cancel someone else’s event. The right to hold Pride has been ruled by the European Court of Human Rights to be a fundamental human right.” said Garina.
Garina also added that the government was using stale tropes to cancel the event which celebrated diversity.
“Aside from the illegality of such a ban, it must be noted that those opposing EuroPride in Belgrade are using tired old tropes, inaccuracies and downright lies to discredit what is, in fact, a celebration of human rights and equality.” said Garina.
EuroPride is a pan-European international event dedicated to LGBT pride. It is hosted by a different European city every year. Belgrade was supposed to be the first European city in southeast Europe to organise the event. However, the axing has put a dent on the travelling plans of thousands who had planned to attend the event.
(With inputs from agencies)
WATCH WION LIVE HERE:
