Belgrade Pride march held: There Is Room for All of Us carried through the city centre

This year’s Pride march took place in Belgrade on Saturday. With the banner “There Is Room for All of Us” at the head of the column, the procession set off at 5 p.m. from Manjež Park, passed through the city’s central streets and by the National Assembly, and returned to the park for a concert program.

The march passed without major incidents, helped by a strong police presence and streets closed along the route. Opponents of Pride gathered near the Church of the Ascension, where minor incidents occurred, after which one clergyman was detained.

Speakers addressed the crowd in front of the Assembly. Pride godmother, journalist Danica Vučenić, said this year’s slogan “shows that we are still going around in circles with the same problems,” thanking the organizers for trusting her to stand with the community and the values she says she also stands for in her work.

Support for the community’s key demand came from the Commissioner for the Protection of Equality, Milan Antonijević, who said at the march that the law on same-sex partnerships has “long been owed” to LGBT+ people in Serbia. Belgrade Pride organizers countered that there is still no political will to pass the key laws.

The head of the European Union Delegation to Serbia marched alongside participants. “Proud to take part in this year’s Belgrade Pride. Everyone has the right to live freely and love whom they choose. Equality, dignity and a society without discrimination are at the very heart of European values,” he wrote on X, concluding that “human rights apply to all.”

Back at Manjež, the evening turned festive with performances by Ivana Peters, Tam, Zejna, Alina Juhart, Sara Zinaić, the band Dolores and the Harem Girls collective, with DJs playing late into the night.

The march crowned a Pride Week that closes today, in the year marking 25 years since the first, “Bloody Pride.” The message at the head of the column, a quarter of a century old, remains the same: there is room for all of us.

Source: N1, Nedeljnik, Danas. English adaptation: gay-serbia.com.