SLOVAKIA: Skinheads Attack, Force Cancellation Of First Gay Pride Parade

Slovakia's first ever gay pride parade was canceled today after skinheads attacked the participants with rocks, eggs and a tear gas grenade. Organizers are blaming police for not providing adequate protection. Eight neo-Nazis were arrested and there were no serious injuries.

Members of the neo-Nazi group Slovenská Pospolitosť attacked the participants at a pre-parade rally for LGBT rights. A tear gas canister thrown by one of the approximately 80 neo-Nazis interrupted the rally, attended by 500 people, while the extremists also were throwing eggs at the participants, the Sme daily reported. Two rally participants who were carrying a rainbow flag, the symbol of the parade, were attacked by the neo-Nazis at Hviezdoslav Square in Bratislava. They attacked the flag barriers with their fists in the face, the SITA newswire reported. The rally and parade had been announced long in advance and observers said that the police had enough time to prepare for the security and safety of the parade participants.

“Instead of the parade of pride, Slovakia has experienced a day of shame,” wrote Sme’s deputy editor-in-chief Lukáš Fila in his commentary suggesting that the attack by the neo-Nazis against the participants shows a failure by the state. Fila states that if the state was unable to secure order at an event which had been announced months in advance and about which all media had been reporting and to which foreign diplomats had confirmed their presence, then in what other areas are the police incapable of securing public order?

Similar incidents marred gay pride events earlier this month in Belarus and Lithuania. Below, Slovakian police arrest one of the anti-gay rioters.