ZAGREB, June 9, 2019 – The 18th Zagreb Pride Parade was held in the Croatian capital city on Saturday under the slogan “18 Proud Years”, drawing, according to its organisers, around 7,000 participants.
Participants carried banners with messages such as “Love is love”, “Police are here because of you”, “Together we are stronger” and “Misogyny kills”.
Curious bystanders watched as the parade, with its participants carrying rainbow flags and banners, whistling and drumming, passed through the city centre.
“The atmosphere was beautiful, calls for love and alliance were heard. The number of marchers is not important, what is important is how many different people attended this year’s protest and how many different people sent out the message that we do not accept restriction of human rights,” Zagreb Pride programme coordinator Doria Jukić told Hina after the parade, which was held amid strong police presence.
“18 years ago, we – lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transsexuals, intersexuals and queer people – embarked with our allies and supporters on a brave and proud struggle for freedom, equality and rights in Croatia just as our fellow fighters rose against oppression in New York 50 years ago and started the movement for the rights of LGBTIQ persons in the United States and the rest of the world,” said Zagreb Pride organisers in the Ribnjak park, where the parade ended with an entertainment programme.
The organisers said that LGBTIQ people had won some battles in Croatia but that they still lived in fear of violence, that hate speech and hate crime were still not prosecuted and that they did not have the right to parenthood or foster care.
The Zagreb Pride Parade was also attended by politicians, including MP Milorad Pupovac of the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS), Social Democrat MP Gordan Maras and Social Democratic Party (SDP) leader Davor Bernardić, who said that it was important for Croatia to expand personal freedoms and tolerance and raise respect for human rights to a higher level.
“This country must be a country of equal opportunities for all,” he said, adding that same-sex couples should be given the right to provide foster care as well as to adopt.
He said that he considered the Life Partnership Act (adopted during the term of a previous, SDP-led government) a major step forward and that values of social democracy were universal human values.
“They have to be the standard, something that is not called into question. The freedom of an individual to decide about their life, the freedom of a woman to decide about her own body, the freedom of same-sex partners to decide about their family must not be called into question. We are fighting for that because we want to be a normal country, like other European countries,” said Bernardić.
Zagreb police said there were no reports of serious incidents during the parade, and one person was taken into custody for disturbing the peace.
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