 ■ Marije Cornelissen, MEP: “I never expected that it would go this wrong. The violence in Split shows that Croatia still has a lot to do to properly protect human rights.” photo courtesy Greens/EFA |
A pregnant Dutch MEP was among the estimated 300 participants in the first-ever Gay Pride to be staged in the southern Croatia post city of Split on Saturday. The Pride parade came to an abrupt end when it was confronted by up to 10,000 protesters who threw missiles and tear gas at Pride participants.
Marije Cornelissen (Greens/EFA, Netherlands), faced hateful shouts such as “Kill the faggots”, and arrays of Nazi salutes.
She reported that the police failed to keep the protestors at a safe distance from marchers, and projectiles hit at least six people. Initial reports point to police forces being unprepared, and implicitly helping protesters by purposely letting them close to participants.
The events on Saturday took place a day after José Manuel Barroso, the President of the European Commission, announced he would propose that the EU and Croatia conclude accession talks, with a view for the Western Balkan Republic to join the European Union by July 2013.
This accession requires that Croatia be declared level with EU standards in several areas, including fundamental rights and the protection of minorities.
“I never expected that it would go this wrong,” Marije Cornelissen MEP told UK Gay News this morning. “The violence in Split shows that Croatia still has a lot to do to properly protect human rights. I hope that the authorities realise that until they actually join in 2013, they must join forces with LGBT organisations to firmly combat homophobia in Croatia.”
Ulrike Lunacek, MEP (Greens/EFA, Austria) and co-president of the European Parliament’s all-party Intergroup on LGBT Rights added: “[The] outbreak of homophobic hatred and violence shows that European values – including freedom of assembly and the protection of all minorities – are not yet fully at home in a country two years away from joining the EU.
“Therefore, it will be necessary that before the end of negotiations, there is an agreement between government, parliament and civil society organisations over a concrete and transparent monitoring mechanism for the provision of justice and the protection of fundamental rights,” she added.
The Intergroup on LGBT Rights said that it will ask the European Commission how these events in Split on Saturday reflect on current accession talks.
Report say that the police failed to adequately protect Split Pride participants; at least six activists and journalists were taken to the hospital after stones, ashtrays and other hard projectiles were thrown at them.
Croatian President Ivo Josipovic and Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor have both condemned the violence. Mr. Josipovic said incidents in Split were not the “real face” of Croatia and they show that there still exist some “non-European” parts of society, Radio Free Europe reported at the weekend.
And according to Balkan Insight, former Croatian Minister of Interior, Sime Lucin, said that police did not heed the warnings that abounded in the weeks leading up to the parade, such as anti-gay graffiti and hateful messages on the internet.
The Croatian news Website Daily T Portal reported today that the Dutch Ambassador to Croatia, Stella Ronner-Grubacic, had “labelled incidents at the [Gay Pride]parade as violations of fundamental human rights” and that “she would ask her government to recommend the monitoring of the reform processes in Croatia”.
And Daljie, reporting on an anti-gay group on the social network site Facebook, said that members were “low life”. The Website quoted a handful of the Facebook comments, in graphic detail.
