Ep. 8 – Belgrade Bans EuroPride – Europe Talks Back

On September 13, 2022, Serbian authorities banned the iconic EuroPride march, which was supposed to take place next Saturday in the country’s capital, Belgrade.

The march would have been the culmination of EuroPride week, the leading yearly event in Europe, through which the LGBTQI+ community gathers and voices its demand for stronger rights and equality. The announcement of the ban came after that, in August, the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vucic, hinted at the likely cancellation of the event. But until this Tuesday, the organizers of EuroPride had re-affirmed it was not up to the President to cancel a public event. In fact, as of September 15, 2022, so also after the official ban, the people behind the EuroPride continue to say that “they will march”. The ban of the EuroPride march inevitably puts Belgrade and Serbia under the spotlight. On this episode of Europe Talks Back, Alexander Damiano Ricci talks about the ban of the EuroPride in Belgrade and the situation of the LGBTQI+ community in Serbia and the Western Balkans.