Belgrade Gay Pride Marchers Attacked By Violent Anti-Gay Demonstrators In Historic Parade
Riot Police Battle Right-Wing Serbian Nationalists.
Serbian turns corner embracing democratic values
EXCLUSIVE – By Tanya Domi
Editor’s note: Tanya Domi has an extensive background in human rights and LGBTÂ politics, both domestic and international. (See her bio below.) This is her first official piece as a regular contributor to The New Civil Rights Movement.
NEW YORK, Oct. 10, 2010–For the first time in Serbian history, an estimated 1,000 gay pride marchers hit the streets of Belgrade today, under the protection of hundreds of riot police, who were forced to deploy tear gas to protect marchers, as they battled right-wing nationalist rioters who attacked the parade at various points by throwing bricks, bottles and upending vehicles, along its route in downtown Belgrade.
Nearly 140 persons were injured; mostly police and 17 civilians, of whom 57 sought medical attention, according to B92 News. Police used armored vehicles in battle with more than 6,000 right-wing “hooligans,†who sang patriotic football songs while throwing bricks, stones and bottles at police. B92 also reports that 207 were arrested and 100 remain in jail tonight.
Serbian Human and Minority Rights Minister Svetozar ÄŒiplić and representatives of the ruling Democratic Party, the Liberal party, NGOs and European Union joined the LGBT marchers in solidarity behind a banner that said “We Can Together†while chanting “together against fascismâ€.
What a difference a year makes, when Prime Minister Mirko Cvetokic in 2009 told LGBT organizers that they could not hold a Pride parade because of safety concerns and if they persisted to march they would be found financially liable for all damages to city property.
President Boris Tadic’s government, feeling the pressure of European Union accession criteria that stipulates to adopting non-discrimination legislation against LGBT persons (and demonstrated respect for the rule of law) and added pressure increased with wide public support by the International Community urging Belgrade to host a successful gay pride parade after a decade of unfulfilled efforts by dedicated LGBT activists. Tadic’s Western leaning government finally came through by putting a significant and well organized police presence on the streets of Belgrade.
The Serbian political ruling class came face-to-face with its violent legacy of xenophobic nationalism today as the streets of Belgrade became a new battleground against fellow Serbian citizens who are gay. This new target is not a significant departure from its sordid recent past as Serb nationalists in power targeted and demonized “other†populations and perpetuated horrific crimes against Bosniaks, Croats and Kosovars in neighboring states.
These hooligans tout themselves as patriotic and religious Serbs who protect all that is sacred about Serbia according to their definition and are entwined with radical elements of the Serbian Orthodox Church, creating a clero-fascism axis that remains a potent political force within Serbia today. An illustration of just how perverse the thinking of Serbian Orthodox priests about gays was in evidence after the march concluded when priests descended on “sacred space†in downtown Belgrade, issuing prayers while “cleansing†with incense, which had been “polluted†by the presence of homosexuals, according to local sources to this blog.
What is different now, is that Tadic, together with State Prosecutor Tomo Zorić, immediately announced after Pride had concluded that prosecutors and the police will take all necessary steps to identify rioters engaged in attacks on the police and marchers and were firm in commitment to enforce the rule of law for crimes of intolerance.
Despite the violence, Serbia turned a corner today toward embrace of Democratic values and rule of law in its efforts to support those among them who are LGBT. The government enforced the right to freedom of expression and assembly as LGBT proudly walked the streets of Belgrade for the first time in history.
Nonetheless, the government has considerable unfinished business: an important arrest awaits fugitive Bosnian General Ratko Mladic, believed to be living in Serbia, who is accused of genocide and crimes against humanity and must be turned over to the International War Crimes Tribunal of the Former Yugoslavia in the Hague, Netherlands. Ongoing cooperation with the Court is a necessary hurdle for Serbia’s admission to the EU.
After the Pride march concluded today, marchers and their supporters held a party to celebrate. Despite the violence, LGBT marchers and their supporters had reason to celebrate and so should the government, who finally has thus far, taken all the actions expected of a well functioning democracy.
Tanya L. Domi is an Adjunct Assistant Professor of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, who teaches about human rights in Eurasia and is a Harriman Institute affiliated faculty member. Prior to teaching at Columbia, Domi worked internationally for more than a decade on issues related to democratic transitional development, including political and media development, human rights, gender issues, sex trafficking, and media freedom. Her previous work in Bosnia and Herzegovina implementing the Dayton Peace Accords, 1996-2000, included stints as chair for the OSCE Media Experts Commission during the 1998 general elections, counselor to U.S. Amb. Robert Barry and as executive assistant to the late U.S. Amb. Robert Frowick. She later served as Spokesperson and Director of Press and Public Information under Amb. Barry, 1999-2000.
Prior to working abroad, Domi became a nationally known LGBT rights activist in the United States as the legislative director and military freedom initiative director at the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce, 1992-1994, where she worked to repeal the ban on lesbians and gays who served in the military and was directly involved in drafting and original introduction of the Employment Non-Discrimination Act in 1994. She has been actively involved in the effort to repeal DADT during the past two years as a blogger and speaker, with expertise as a result of her 15 years of service in the U.S. Army as an enlisted soldier and commissioned officer.
Domi has worked in a dozen countries and most recently was a consultant in Southern Sudan where she provided training on developing presentation skills to the public and the media for the president, vice-president and several cabinet ministers of the Government of Southern Sudan. Domi has a Masters of Arts in Human Rights from Columbia University, with a regional specialty in East Central Europe and The Balkans.
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Donald Trump is continuing to target immigrants, and focusing his attacks on swing states in which he is struggling in the polls – and he’s getting support for his efforts from some top names in the GOP. Five days after his lie migrants from Haiti are “eating the dogs” and “eating the cats” of the residents of Springfield, Ohio, Trump, apparently for the first time, invoked language used by the far-right in Europe to vow he will forcibly deport millions of immigrants from those swing states and the rest of the country if elected President in November.
Saturday night Trump called for “remigration,” the forceful deportation of immigrants, including those in the U.S. under lawful and unlawful circumstances. He vowed to “end the migrant invasion of America,” and falsely characterized some programs that allow legal entry to the U.S. under law.
“As President I will immediately end the migrant invasion of America,” Trump posted on his Truth Social website. “We will stop all migrant flights, end all illegal entries, terminate the Kamala phone app for smuggling illegals (CBP One App), revoke deportation immunity, suspend refugee resettlement, and return Kamala’s illegal migrants to their home countries (also known as remigration).”
READ MORE: ‘Hell Isn’t Hot Enough’: Fury at Trump as More School Evacuations Follow ‘Pet-Eating’ Lies
He also promised to “save our cities and towns in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and all across America.”
Trump is losing in four of those five battleground states, according to FiveThirtyEight’s current polling average: Minnesota (Harris +6.2%), Wisconsin (Harris +2.6%), Michigan (Harris +1.5%), Pennsylvania (Harris +0.6%), and North Carolina (Trump +0.5%).
Remigration is advocated by some in the European far-right, nationalist, and fascist movements.
Marine Le Pen, the French far-right nationalist who promotes anti-immigration and anti-Islam positions, viewed remigration as so extreme she broke with her allies over it. Earlier this year Politico Europe reported Le Pen said “that she was in ‘total disagreement’ with the reported discussions on ‘remigration.'” Those discussions included the forced deportation of some French citizens, who were described as “unassimilated citizens.”
Le Pen is supported by Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán, a far-right Christian nationalist and extremist. Trump frequently praises Orbán, and during last week’s presidential debate held him up as a top supporter.
Trump’s use of the term “remigration” caught the eye of experts, including attorney Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council.
READ MORE: Loomer Invokes Hannibal Lecter as Trump Triples Down on Lies About Immigrants Eating Pets
Pointing to the ex-president’s use of the phrase “remigration,” Reichlin-Melnick writes: “Wikipedia describes it as a ‘far-right and Identitarian political concept’ largely used to describe the mass deportation of non-white immigrants and their descendants from Europe.”
Noted professor of history Ruth Ben-Ghiat, an expert on authoritarians, fascism, and propaganda, responded that Trump “knows what he is doing. He chooses his words carefully.”
Trump’s call for “remigration” also caught the eye of some top Republicans.
“I think his immigration policies to repatriate the illegals and close the border will also help because that’s going to make it less likely that those folks will be able to vote,” Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told Fox News on Sunday, as Florida Politics reported.
And Trump’s architect of migrant child separation, Stephen Miller, hailed his former boss’s “remigration” vision:
THE TRUMP PLAN TO END THE INVASION OF SMALL TOWN AMERICA: REMIGRATION! pic.twitter.com/D2bRTyVaPL
— Stephen Miller (@StephenM) September 15, 2024
READ MORE: Senator Suggests Trump Engaging in ‘Stochastic Terrorism’ Amid Pet-Eating Immigrant Lies
Donald Trump is on his fourth day of promoting his false claim that 20,000 undocumented Haitian migrants were dumped on Springfield, Ohio and have destroyed the townsfolk’s way of life, including by stealing people’s pet cats and dogs and eating them. Now, one U.S. Senator is suggesting the Republican presidential nominee is using “stochastic terrorism” to help his flailing presidential campaign.
A bomb threat and another, unspecified threat forced several Springfield elementary schools and one middle school to evacuate or not open Thursday and Friday. On Thursday, the Springfield city hall was evacuated and shut down, as were some state motor vehicle offices.
The emailed bomb threat on Thursday echoed Donald Trump’s and U.S. Senator JD Vance’s racist lies.
“My hometown of Springfield is becoming a thirdworld (expletive) because you allowed the federal government to dump these (expletive) here,” the email stated, USA Today reports. “We have Haitians eating our animals and then you lie and claim this is not happening when we see this happening. I’m here to send a message, I placed a bomb in the following locations…”
RELATED: ‘Hell Isn’t Hot Enough’: Fury at Trump as More School Evacuations Follow ‘Pet-Eating’ Lies
During Tuesday’s presidential debate Trump had falsely said: “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
On Thursday he used the lie to promote the candidacy of a Republican seeking to unseat Ohio Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown.
And on Friday, despite the bomb threat and other unspecified threat, Trump said in a press conference he would travel to Springfield and vowed to do “large deportations” from that city and send the legal immigrants he removes to Venezuela.
The “20,000 illegal Haitian migrants” are reported 12,000 to 15,000, ABC News reports, and they are not “illegal.” They are in the country legally, and the town as far back as a decade ago resolved to invite immigrants to help rebuild their failing economy and businesses.
Trump: We will do large deportations from Springfield, Ohio. Large deportations. We’re going to get these people out. We’re bringing them back to Venezuela pic.twitter.com/41CdKtcmwq
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 13, 2024
Also on Friday, while reportedly not repeating the racist pet-eating lie, Trump dismissed the bomb threats as unimportant.
Reporter: The mayor of Springfield, the police chief, the Republican governor have all debunked this story about pets. And now there are bomb threats at schools and kids being evacuated.
Trump: No no, no, the real threat is what’s happening at our border pic.twitter.com/oDvbGDURYB
— Acyn (@Acyn) September 13, 2024
U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D-HI) is not dismissing them, but he is asking how anyone could function again under a Trump presidency, and suggesting Trump is engaging in stochastic terrorism.
RELATED: Loomer Invokes Hannibal Lecter as Trump Triples Down on Lies About Immigrants Eating Pets
“Think about what it would be like to have four years of a President engaging in overtly racist stochastic terrorism against people pursuing the American dream and then just ask yourself what your immigrant grandparents would want you to do. Kids deserve to go to school safely,” Senator Schatz wrote.
Wajahat Ali is a New York Times contributing op-ed writer, Daily Beast columnist, and author of “Go Back to Where You Came From.” Responding to the news Friday of more school evacuations, Ali wrote: “Stochastic terrorism thanks to Trump and Vance.”
Mother Jones’s D.C. bureau chief David Corn, an MSNBC analyst, also noted: “Trump and Vance incite. Look up stochastic terrorism.”
And Mother Jones on X posted: “Days after Trump went on a racist rant during the presidential debate, the city of Springfield, Ohio, received a bomb threat that was explicitly hostile to immigrants and Haitians. This further proves that Trump’s demonizing rhetoric portends violence.”
Watch the videos above or at this link.
READ MORE: Trump Faces Increasing Calls to Participate in Second Debate
For the second day in a row, elementary school children in Springfield, Ohio, were forced to be evacuated due to threats: a bomb threat on Thursday and an unspecified threat on Friday. The threats come after Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump and his running mate, Ohio U.S. Senator JD Vance, have repeatedly spread lies about Haitian immigrants in Springfield this week, including that they are stealing residents’ cats and dogs and eating them.
Thursday’s bomb threat specifically mentioned the false claims about Haitian immigrants eating people’s pets, USA Today reported.
“Three schools in Springfield were evacuated or closed Friday, based on guidance from police, school officials said,” local NBC affiliate WLWT reports. “Officials with the Springfield City School District said that based on information they got from the Springfield Police Division, students at Perrin Woods and Snowhill Elementary were evacuated and moved to another district location.”
A Springfield middle school was also ordered closed Friday morning, before classes began, and “at least one Springfield location of the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles is closed.”
READ MORE: ‘Screaming About Eating Cats Is Not a Solution’: Walz Rallies Michigan Crowd, Slams Trump
On Thursday, a bomb threat targeting Springfield city hall and an elementary school forced evacuations of those buildings.
“Police Chief Allison Elliott said that due to the seriousness of the threat, officials evacuated multiple buildings in addition to City Hall, including BMV Springfield Driver’s Exam Station, Ohio License Bureau Southside, Springfield Academy of Excellence and Fulton Elementary School.”
Despite the reports of the bomb threat on Thursday, hours later Donald Trump used his Truth Social platform to promote the Republican nominee working to unseat Democratic U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown of Ohio, by spreading more anti-Haitian immigrant racism.
“Bernie Moreno has a very good chance of winning Ohio against a Radical Left Democrat, Sherrod Brown, with what is happening in Springfield, and other parts of the State,” Trump declared Thursday afternoon, referring to the far-right extremist Republican who is currently leading in the polls by low single digits.
Trump then invoked his racist Haitian immigrant lies.
“Ohio is being inundated with Illegal Migrants, mostly from Haiti, who are taking over Towns and Villages at a level and rate never seen before.”
On Truth Social, Trump on Thursday also posted memes of cats, including one with them holding a sign that says, “Don’t let them eat us, vote for Trump.”
RELATED: Loomer Invokes Hannibal Lecter as Trump Triples Down on Lies About Immigrants Eating Pets
During Tuesday’s presidential debate, Trump had falsely claimed, “In Springfield, they’re eating the dogs. The people that came in, they’re eating the cats, they’re eating, they’re eating the pets of the people that live there.”
USA Today also reported that the “false rumor that Haitian migrants were stealing and eating pets began to circulate in the days leading up to the debate and was further popularized through posts from running mate J.D. Vance about his own state and AI-generated images shared by Trump, Elon Musk and the Republican House Judiciary Committee.”
J.J. Abbott, former press secretary to then-Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf, responded to ABC News immigration reporter Armando Tonatiuh Torres-García’s viral social media post reporting Friday’s threat and evacuations:
“In 2018, the GOP and Trump’s anti-immigrant conspiracies led to the deadliest mass shooting in recent PA history at a synagogue in Pittsburgh. The gunman took him seriously and literally. There’s nothing funny or intriguing about this dangerous racism.”
In 2018, the GOP and Trump’s anti-immigrant conspiracies led to the deadliest mass shooting in recent PA history at a synagogue in Pittsburgh.
The gunman took him seriously and literally.
There’s nothing funny or intriguing about this dangerous racism. https://t.co/W3nCdSQEAw https://t.co/xMn9fGCOjG pic.twitter.com/ol0gXbNFQG
— J.J. Abbott 🦅 (@jjabbott) September 13, 2024
Many others responded to that reporter’s post.
“No sanitizing this. @jdvance and @realDonaldTrump bear full responsibility. They’re promoters of terrorism; and they did it intentionally,” wrote columnist, reporter, and former editor in chief of Crooked Media Brian Beutler.
“Ohio should look at this insanity and vote accordingly. Conspiracy peddling has real consequences. You can’t unring that bell. Donald Trump and JD Vance don’t care,” noted constitutional law professor and political scientist Anthony Michael Kreis.
“Donald Trump and JD Vance are terrorizing schoolchildren. They are unfit for any public office, let alone the highest,” responded attorney Andrew L. Seidel.
“JD Vance and MAGA influencers whipped up a blood libel panic and now children in Springfield are being traumatized by their lies. Hell isn’t hot enough,” commented the co-executive director of the progressive group Indivisible, Leah Greenberg.
“There’s a line from Charlottesville to Jan 6 to this. Trump speaks, his supporters act,” wrote political analyst and researcher Arieh Kovler.
“Trump could stop this but he won’t because he believes it serves his interests. It’s the same J6 behavior of spreading false conspiracy theories to inflame his supporters and then sitting back and watching instead of stopping it,” noted political science professor Michael McDonald.
READ MORE: Trump Faces Increasing Calls to Participate in Second Debate
‘Remigration’: Trump Continues Attacks on Immigrants With New Vow of Forced Deportations
Senator Suggests Trump Engaging in ‘Stochastic Terrorism’ Amid Pet-Eating Immigrant Lies
‘Hell Isn’t Hot Enough’: Fury at Trump as More School Evacuations Follow ‘Pet-Eating’ Lies
‘Screaming About Eating Cats Is Not a Solution’: Walz Rallies Michigan Crowd, Slams Trump
Loomer Invokes Hannibal Lecter as Trump Triples Down on Lies About Immigrants Eating Pets
News3 days ago‘Hell Isn’t Hot Enough’: Fury at Trump as More School Evacuations Follow ‘Pet-Eating’ Lies
News3 days agoSenator Suggests Trump Engaging in ‘Stochastic Terrorism’ Amid Pet-Eating Immigrant Lies
News1 hour ago‘Remigration’: Trump Continues Attacks on Immigrants With New Vow of Forced Deportations