https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/wireStory/belgrade-police-clash-hooligans-pride-march-90064005Riot police clashed Saturday with soccer hooligans in downtown Belgrade, where a pan-European Pride march was held despite threats from anti-gay groups and an official earlier ban on the march in the traditionally conservative Balkan state.
Tensions were high in the Serbian capital as ultranationalist fans hurled stun grenades, stones and flares at a police cordon, which repelled the attack with batons and riot shields. Hundreds of Pride march supporters, meanwhile, gathered a few kilometers (miles) away in the pouring rain, dancing and singing their march was held on shortened route.
"We need justice and freedom,” said Goran Miletic, one of the Pride event organizers.
Although several Pride marches have been held in Serbia in the past years, the Slavic nation that is formally seeking European Union membership appears to be sliding toward Russia and its conservative traditions.
Holding rainbow flags, hundreds of LGBTQ activists and their supporters marched through a central Belgrade area that was sealed off by police who put up metal fences and stood in cordons in full riot gear.
