MONTENEGRO: Small LGBT Pride Event Takes Place Under Massive Police Presence

Last year hundreds of violent anti-gay extremists attacked a tiny gay pride parade in Montenegro. This year's even smaller event went off yesterday without incident and under heavy police protection as the small nation campaigns to join the European Union. Via Yahoo News:

Barely 100 people joined a gay pride parade Sunday in the capital of deeply conservative Montenegro, vastly outnumbered by some 2,000 police amid fears of violence. Waving banners reading "Traditionally Proud," "Silence = Death" and "This is Just the Beginning," they marched past the main government buildings of central Podgorica. Human Rights Minister Suad Numanovic and Podgorica Mayor Slavoljub Stijepanovic joined the parade along with ambassadors of several member states of the European Union, which Montenegro is in talks to join. Mitja Drobnic, the head of the EU delegation in Montenegro, also took part, telling reporters: "Human rights make part of the rule of law. Without results achieved in the area of the rule of law there is no progress towards EU membership."

Balkan Church Leaders: God Sent Killer Floods Because Of Conchita Wurst

According to local church leaders, killer floods in Serbia and Montenegro are the result of God's anger with Conchita Wurst's win at Eurovision.

The floods which devastated towns and cities in the Balkans, and killed at least 50 people, were a 'punishment' from God after drag artist Conchita Wurst won Eurovision 2014, the Patriarch and other senior figures of the Serbian Orthodox Church have claimed. Patriarch Irinej of the Serbian church reportedly said that God sent the deluge as a “divine punishment for their [the Lesbian, Gay, Bi-sexual, transgender (LGBT) community’s] vices. He added: “God is thus washing Serbia of its sins,” according to the news website. Meanwhile, Littoral Head Amfilohije of Montenegro reportedly said that the floods were “not a coincidence but a warning,” explaining that the extreme weather was a sign that people must reject the “Jesus-like-figure”.

Amfilohije added: "God sent the rains as a reminder that people should not join the wild side."

MONTENEGRO: Riot Police Fire Tear Gas At Anti-Gay Extremists At Pride Parade

An estimated 1500 anti-gay extremists clashed with riot police in Montenegro today as authorities struggled to protect the participants in the first gay pride event ever held in the nation's capital. None of parade's 150 participants were injured or arrested.

The march, guarded by almost 2,000 police officers, took place on Sunday afternoon in Podgorica, the capital of the staunchly conservative Balkan state. The violence occurred when the attackers tried to push through cordons of hundreds of police. Such pride marches are seen as a test of Montenegro's commitment to human rights as it seeks to join the European Union. The half-hour walk through the centre of Podgorica was the second attempt to hold a gay pride march in Montenegro, a mountainous country of 680,000 people which began EU accession talks last year. Gay rights opponents attacked a similar march in July in the coastal town of Budva. This time streets were cordoned off and uniformed policemen were deployed on the roofs of nearby buildings while a police chopper hovered above the scene. March organiser Danijel Kalezic says the protection allowed about gay activists to walk peacefully through the city of Podgorica.

The Associated Press reports that about 20 police officers and 40 extremists were injured during the melee. Sixty of the rioters were arrested, some of whom were reportedly carrying Molotov cocktails.

RELATED: Here's my report on the July violence in Budva.

MONTENEGRO: Hundreds Of Extremists Attack First-Ever Gay Pride Parade

The Associated Press reports:

Several hundred extremists shouting "Kill the gays" attacked gay activists and clashed with police on Wednesday in a bid to disrupt the first ever pride event in staunchly conservative Montenegro, which is seeking to improve its human rights record as it bids to join the European Union.

Angry assailants threw rocks, bottles, glasses and various other objects — including chairs from local cafes — at several dozen flag-waving gay activists who shouted back "Kiss the gays." A shower of stones and bottles also landed on special police securing the gathering in the coastal town of Budva.

Police then intervened to push the attackers away and allow the event to continue. The participants briefly marched by the sea before they stopped to hold speeches as extremists shouted insults from a distance. Later, police again clashed with smaller groups of extremists scattered throughout the town.

I'll have more photos and video when they became available.

MONTENEGRO: Hundreds Of Police Hired To Protect Nation's First Gay Pride Event

Montenegro's first-ever gay pride parade will take place tomorrow in the coastal resort town of Budva.

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.

(Tipped by JMG reader Kent)