MONTENEGRO: Hundreds Of Police Hired To Protect Nation's First Gay Pride Event
The Human Rights Minister, Suad Numanovic, has supported the event and has said that the government will send a representative to attend the rally. Police Assistant Director Nikola Janjusevic said the police were undertaking all measures to ensure the safety of the participants. Montenegro's first Gay Pride parade, organized by rights activist Zdravko Cimbaljevic, was to have taken place on May 31, 2011. However, the march was cancelled following two attacks on gays in the capital, Podgorica, before the start of the event. Ferhad Dinosa, then the Minister for Human and Minority Rights, was accused of making homophobic remarks and subsequently axed in late 2011.A Serbian-language news site notes that threatening obituaries (image below) for the organizer of tomorrow's event have been posted around Budva. A petition against the parade has also been posted at cafes and restaurants. The town has reportedly hired 400 police officers to protect parade-goers from the members of a local soccer fan club, which issued a statement denouncing the "deviant and twisted" plan for a parade that would "throw a stain on our city and all the family values and traditions that we have inherited for centuries." The city warns that the parade will be filmed by police cameras.
Labels: gay Pride, LGBT rights, Montenegro
