Eight Injured at Sarajevo Pride Festival

Bosnia and Herzegovina's first gay pride festival, which took place Wednesday in the capital city of Sarajevo, was marred when eight participants and journalists were attacked.

Bosnia and Herzegovina's first gay pride festival, which took place Wednesday in the capital city of Sarajevo, was marred when eight participants and journalists were attacked. Police told reporters that dozens of homophobic vandals came to the festival's opening ceremony in front of the city's Academy of Fine Arts, according to the BBC News. Demonstrators chanted "Kill the Gays" and "Allahu Akbar" ("God Is Great").

"When I was getting out of the academy, I was suddenly struck in the back," festival participant Pedja Kojovic told Agence France-Presse. "Three other people then came running and beat me up." A journalist trying to help Kojovic was also severely beaten.

About 50 people participated in the opening ceremony.

Festival organizers say they had been receiving death threats leading up to the event. Sarajevo is a predominantly Muslim city, and religious leaders said the timing of the festival and the holy month of Ramadan was provocative, the BBC reports. Officials with several of the country's political parties have declared homosexuality deviant and an illness.

According to Amnesty International, local publications like Dnevni AvazSAFF have used derogatory language to bash the festival, which ends September 28. Some websites have called for festival organizers to be lynched, stoned, doused with gasoline, or kicked out of the country.

An activist with the gay rights organization Udruženje Q told Amnesty International before the festival that his group did not feel safe.

"Some of us had to find new accommodations because our names and addresses were made publicly known," he said. "We are afraid to use public transport or go out alone. Our dogs are our best protection at the moment. We feel isolated."

Police quelled protesters, though violence still spread to nearby streets. (Michelle Garcia, The Advocate)

Click here to follow The Advocate on Twitter. Page 1 of 1

READ COMMENTS (3) MORE \ EMAIL PRINT

RECOMMEND

Reader Comments

Back to top
Name: Sarah
Date posted: 9/27/2008 11:47:00 PM
Hometown: Denver, Colorado

Comment:
I am neither Bosnian, nor a Muslim. I would never justify homophobia, but it does not seem as if the response to this festival was fueled purely by homophobia. This festival was exceptionally poorly timed. It took place in the middle of Ramadan, the major Muslim holiday, in the year of the tenth anniversary of the massacre at Srebrenica, in a war in which people were trying to exterminate the Bosnian people because their ancestors had converted to Islam. Furthermore, Serbia is attempting to join the EU this year, and it seems that Bosnia will be unable to join in large part because of the actions of the autonomous region of The Republika Srpska. Perhaps it should have been timed less provocatively. Bosnia is a highly secular country. Would you support someone who staged an Anti - War protest at a soldier's funeral?
Back to top
Name: Vito
Date posted: 9/27/2008 8:42:00 PM
Hometown: Toronto, Ontario

Comment:
sadly my home country is becoming the crib for Wahabi Islamists in Europe. Sarajevo is going in a backwards spiral instead of moving forward for human rights, and the liberal left. All the Islamic propaganda is only transcending to the rest of the country. I will not be surprised when another war starts. It also makes you wonder how free are the Serbs, Croats, etc. who also live in the city, and country.
Back to top
Name: CHris Sullivan
Date posted: 9/26/2008 3:23:00 PM
Hometown: Chicago, IL

Comment:
Where Muslims go, violence and death follows. They make Catholics/Evangelicals seem as if they come from a Walt Disney film.

PREVIOUS 1 NEXT

More Online Only

Commentary Progress in the Midwest
A city native and strong supporter of Kalamazoo's effort to keep an anti-discrimination law reflects on a hard-won campaign.

Commentary What Marriage in Maine Meant for Me

Dana Hernandez is a straight white married mother of two young children. But in campaigning for No on 1 and reporting Election Night outcomes for Advocate.com, defeat hit her like a ton of bricks.

Marriage Equality Terri White Stages Her Leather Encore

Last year, acclaimed stage performer Terri White was homeless and living in a public park. On Sunday, she and her partner held a leather-themed commitment ceremony onstage following her triumphant Broadway turn in Finian’s Rainbow.

Music Ghost Story

Out singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile discusses working with her childhood mentor, coming out publicly, and joining next year's Lilith Fair.

News View From Washington: GOP Upheaval

Now that the only pro-marriage equality candidate in New York's 23rd Congressional district, Republican Dede Scozzafava, has dropped out of the race, Tuesday's election holds any number of political lessons for both the GOP and the LGBT community.

Books Hot Sheet: Ditto Knocking 'Em Dead

This week might not bring anything to the screen other than a Boondock Saints sequel, but there are plenty of reasons to sit at home on the couch or head to your local concert venue.

News Features Sailor Speaks Out
Sailor Joseph Rocha endured years of hazing until he spoke out — then he was discharged for revealing his homosexuality. Nonetheless, the 23-year-old is itching to suit back up.

Music Rainbow High

Busy Broadway heartthrob, gay rights activist, and former Advocate coverboy Cheyenne Jackson chats about his Finian’s Rainbow revival, his politically charged cabaret CD, and laying around in his underpants (pic on page five).

Marriage Equality For Maine, The Time is Now
Money is on their side and the polls look optimistic, but volunteers fighting to preserve marriage equality in Maine are prepared for a fight to the finish.

Television Another Tough Broad

After being outed by a Nazi and locking lips with a hook-up three times in one episode, Christine Woods's tough-talking FBI agent Janis Hawk on ABC's FlashForward might just be prime time's best gay offering — who isn't in Glee club, that is.

Books In Sickness and in Health

Mary Cappello’s memoir Called Back takes readers on a white-knuckle journey through the experience of cancer treatment in America — especially disorienting to navigate as a woman and a lesbian.

Books An American Crime

Best-selling novelist Patricia Cornwell made headlines last week when she filed suit against a New York investment firm for losing $40 million of her money. But she'd much rather talk about her new book, hate-crimes legislation, and Angelina Jolie.

Comedy Gilded Lily

After conquering Broadway, movies, and television, out funny lady Lily Tomlin prepares for the final frontier — Las Vegas.

Entertainment News Ricky Martin, No Shirt and a Baby
Ricky Martin knows how to get the camera's attention. Take a look at the many pictures of Ricky uploaded to his Twitter account in the past three months, always shirtless, frequently carrying one (or both) of his babies.

Television Fresh Blood
With True Blood a bona-fide cultural phenomenon, producer Alan Ball offers tantalizing hints about what to expect on season 3.