While the list of those who are against the holding of the walk as part of Europride is long - the government, the church, most of the opposition parties, ultra-right organizations and litianists, there are far fewer of those who openly said that on September 17 they will walk together with members of the LGBTIQ+ population, because the defense the right to assembly, regardless of who it is, the defense of the basic principles of human rights
Citizens of Serbia with a different sexual orientation received stronger support from the European Union than from their own country. There are many state officials of EU member states who are in Belgrade these days. There are also representatives of the European Commission and the European Parliament.
One of them, Terri Reintke, in front of the European Greens, said in Belgrade on Friday that the defense of the right and freedom of assembly was the main reason why she and her colleagues from the European Parliament went to Serbia. She reminded Reintke that these are rights guaranteed by the Constitution of Serbia and the European Convention on Human Rights of the Council of Europe, of which Serbia is a member.
On the Serbian political scene, only the left-green coalition gathered around Ne davimo Beograd (Moramo) and the Movement of Free Citizens had the courage to invite their sympathizers to a walk on Saturday.
Biljana Đorđević, Member of Parliament for Moramo, said that this parliamentary group gives full support to the organizers of Europride and the entire LGBTIQ+ community and therefore: "We will walk tomorrow regardless of everything. It is the basic right of all of us". She added that the freedom of assembly in Serbia has been threatened for a long time, as can be seen from the toying with the cancellation of Europride.
That no one is free until everyone is free is also the position of the Movement of Free Citizens. Despite the ban on gatherings, PSG will be with Serbian citizens of different sexual orientation on Saturday and "will defend their right to diversity and equality.
On Friday, the President of PSG expressed the hope that the Serbian authorities will "avoid the bruka" and will enable the march to take place.
"For us, the Constitution of Serbia and the decision of the Constitutional Court from 2011 are binding, which is very clear and says that the so-called security reasons, where a militant group threatens peaceful citizens, is not a sufficient reason to deny someone's right, and we will appear on that assembly", said Pavle Grbović.
Some non-governmental organizations and public figures also gave support to activists and members of the LGBTIQ+ community.
Expected or not, for certain declaratively pro-European opposition parties, such as the Freedom and Justice Party (SSP) and the Democratic Party (DS), endangering the basic rights of some citizens of Serbia was not a convenient training ground for undermining the progressives, so they denied the public an official party position on the issue of holding the walk. as part of Europride.
SP/FoNet/Danas
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