At least eight people were injured after dozens of hooligans attacked participants of Bosnia's first gay rights festival in capital Sarajevo on Wednesday.
The scuffle happened at the end of the four-day festival's opening ceremony held in front of the Academy of Fine Arts in downtown Sarajevo, with protesters hitting demonstrators--including local journalists--while shouting "kill the gays" and "Allahu Akbar" (a Muslim expression meaning God is Great). A heavy police deployment prevented the clashes from becoming more violent, but anti-gay protesters spread to nearby streets and began attacking random people, even striking the head of a police officer.
About 50 people joined the opening day of the festival, which had been feared of violent attacks. Homophobia overrides the country's usual divisions of its wartime foes--Muslims, Serbs, and Croats. The country's Muslim majority is particularly upset over the festival because it was held during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Many Bosnians, including members of various ethnic political parties, have declared homosexualily as an illness and labeled as a behavioral deviant.
(Source: Agence France-Presse)
The scuffle happened at the end of the four-day festival's opening ceremony held in front of the Academy of Fine Arts in downtown Sarajevo, with protesters hitting demonstrators--including local journalists--while shouting "kill the gays" and "Allahu Akbar" (a Muslim expression meaning God is Great). A heavy police deployment prevented the clashes from becoming more violent, but anti-gay protesters spread to nearby streets and began attacking random people, even striking the head of a police officer.
About 50 people joined the opening day of the festival, which had been feared of violent attacks. Homophobia overrides the country's usual divisions of its wartime foes--Muslims, Serbs, and Croats. The country's Muslim majority is particularly upset over the festival because it was held during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Many Bosnians, including members of various ethnic political parties, have declared homosexualily as an illness and labeled as a behavioral deviant.
(Source: Agence France-Presse)
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