Serbian President Aleskandar Vucic warned on August 30 that his government's decision to block the EuroPride event next month in Belgrade must be respected in the interest of security, a climbdown from his earlier suggestion that the event might be rescheduled.
Vucic was dismissing organizers' pushback after officials in the mostly Orthodox Balkan country bowed to pressure from thousands of religious and other conservatives marching this month to ban the week of European LGBT pride scheduled for September 12-18.
"There will be no fights and no conflicts," said Vucic, whose national populism relies in part on support from the powerful Serbian Orthodox Church.
EuroPride promotes lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex pride at the pan-European level and is hosted by a different European city each year.
This year, it is slated for Belgrade and its 1.4 million or so residents.
It includes a Pride Parade, scheduled for September 17.
Vucic suggested Serbian authorities could not ensure security for the event.
The leadership of the European Pride Organizers Association that licenses EuroPride has vowed that the events will go ahead as planned in Belgrade.
A 2010 pride rally in Belgrade descended into violence that injured dozens of police and civilians when anti-LGBT mobs attacked participants.
But annual pride events have continued since 2014 -- aside from the 2020 event during the pandemic emergency -- without major incidents.
Serbian Prime Minister Ana Brnabic, a Vucic ally, became the Balkans' first openly lesbian leader when she took office in 2017.
Brnabic attended the 2017 Pride rally.