The twentieth of September in Belgrade, twice
Banned in 2009, on the streets with government ministers in 2015: Belgrade's long road to Pride.
On 20 September 2015, around three hundred people marched in Belgrade from the government building to parliament. They carried rainbow flags and banners with slogans such as "My rights, my demands". The city centre was sealed off, armoured vehicles stood ready and a helicopter circled overhead. But the attack many had feared did not come.
The date carried weight. Six years earlier, on 20 September 2009, Belgrade's second Pride was supposed to take place. The first attempt in 2001 had already been brutally broken up by right-wing extremists and hooligans. In 2009 the threats mounted again. The authorities demanded that the march be moved from the centre to Ušće Park, a venue for rock concerts. For the organisers this was not an option, because a Pride belongs on a city's main streets. The march did not take place. Two years later, the Serbian Constitutional Court declared the ban unconstitutional.
Bitter years followed. In 2010 the parade was allowed to go ahead, but thousands of rioters fought street battles with the police. Well over a hundred people were injured. After that, the state banned Pride three years in a row. Only in 2014 did a march succeed without organised violence.
In 2015 two members of the government even walked along, the Minister for European Integration and the Minister of Culture. They were joined by the Mayor of Belgrade, the head of the EU delegation and the US ambassador. Serbia wanted to join the EU and to polish its human rights record. Before the main march, activists gathered for a Trans Pride. And the organisers called for help for the refugees who were passing through the city in their thousands at the time. In Serbia, they said, people knew well what it was like to wait for a visa for a better life.
Even so, the day was not entirely normal. After the march, participants were advised to hide their rainbow symbols on the way home.