Belgrade police clash with hooligans during Pride march in Belgrade
A group of hooligans, some wearing masks and carrying assault weapons, clashes with police during the pride parade in Belgrade.
Reuters TV
2:22AM BST 11 Jul 2014
Police in Serbia say a large group of hooligans dressed in military fatigues were part of a group that attacked a rally for LGBT rights in Serbia on Saturday.
The police have also been hunting a masked suspect who they say sprayed graffiti on the walls of a police station, and a man who walked into the town hall in Belgrade and said he wanted to kill all Serbs, the police said.
The police say the suspect also attacked the local branch of the LGBT rights group AFA.
The police told Reuters they were targeting the group because they were “violent and armed”.
They said the police received more than 100 reports of people attacking people during the pride parade on Saturday.
“The parade was held peacefully, despite the hooligans that were present”, police official Marko Perković said on the state television channel RTS.
AFA has said it plans to hold a rally later this month in Serbia to commemorate the killings of people who were openly gay or lesbian.
In one of the most serious clashes on Friday, police fired bird shot at people who fought with other participants at the pride parade in a town in western Serbia.
Police also used pepper spray after a man on a wheelchair tried to attack police officers.
The police said the man was drunk and refused to leave.
The pride-related violence has provoked international concern.
The US embassy in Belgrade strongly condemned the attacks and condemned “hooligans” who attacked police during the parade, but said that the police were doing the best they could.
“We take seriously the incidents that occurred in Serbia during today’s parade in which people