LGBT community holds gay parade indoors

Members of the Pride Parade Organizing committee held a Pride Parade indoors on Saturday.

The Pride Parade was supposed to be held in downtown Belgrade but the Serbian authorities decided to ban all public gatherings due to high security risks.

The LGBT activists ended their gathering by sitting down on the sidewalk in front of the Media Center where they held this year's parade.

They had rainbow-colored flags and a banner that said "September 28, 2013" - a date when the next Pride Parade should be held in Belgrade.

"We hope that the authorities will have enough time to allow us to have a 970-step walk next year," said the organizers.

They held a press conference that was attended by numerous NGOs and LGBT organizations.

Strong police forces were securing the area around the Media Center during the gathering.

The Pride Parade participants told reporters that the police did not allow them to go out in the street.

Serbian Prime Minister Ivica Dačić has stated that "80 percent of the citizens" are against the Pride Parade.

"80 percent of citizens" against gay Pride Parade

Serbia's Prime Minister Ivica Dačić has stated that 80 percent of citizens are against the holding of a gay Pride Parade.

He told daily Press that there would have been a "bloodshed" in Belgrade if the parade had not been banned.

"I'd rather they criticize me for banning the parade than for allowing a bloodshed and all security assessments show that this is exactly what would have happened. Even if we hired more than 5,000 police officers, there would have been unrests, fights and casualties," the prime minister was quoted as saying.

According to him, foreign embassies, mainly those of western countries, would have been attacked in the riots during the Pride Parade.

The Serbian authorities decided to ban all public gatherings, including the Pride Parade, on Saturday in Belgrade.