Gay pride march in Croatia disrupted after violence breaks out

[telemann.livejournal.com]

An estimated 300 people were arrested and five hospitalized after violence erupted to protest the first Gay Pride parade in the Croatian port city of Split on Saturday. Police used teargas and batons to protect between 150-300 gay rights supporters when a 10,000-strong mob attacked them, hurling stones, bottles and ashtrays from cafes on the stretch where the parade was taking place. Unable to contain the violence, police were forced to break off the parade and evacuate the participants.

The day before, Croatia had been green-lighted to join the European Union in 2013, with the promise it would protect its gay citizens their rights. 200 marchers were vastly outnumbered by thousands of protesters who lined the route throwing bottles, and firecrackers and chanted insults at participants in the parade. His holiness Pope Benedict XVI had just visited Croatia, encouraging family values, and urged the mostly Catholic country to resist secular temptations and maintain its Christian identity.


Pope Benedict visits Zagreb, Croatia two days ago

In 2005, ads ran in Croatia's largest cities, where 1200 signatories openly came out, under a banner that read ""I don't want to hide any more. Little divides us and a lot unites us. Reconsider your prejudice." Homosexuals in Croatia face severe prejudice, where the influence of the Catholic Church is very strong. This is pretty disappointing, but not surprising honestly: religion provided the key element in several former Eastern Block countries, in expressions of resistance, etc. Even though the cause for that resistance is now gone, the church and its teachings still exert a great deal of influence in swaying public opinion. To be clear: in no way do I blame the Pope or any religious person for inciting violence. But I think it does create a climate for intolerance that some will use for justification of their actions. And to be fair, Croatia's capital city Zagreb has held several pride marches that have been peaceful.





Police engaging the crowds

Comments

[southwest]

Many commoners should just realize that on the scale of things gay people are not the greatest of their worries. It's the immigrants.

[soliloquy76.livejournal.com]

Not only are the Slavs very homophobic, but they're incredibly racist as well. It's a shame, because otherwise they're pretty nice folks.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Any thoughts on Tracy Morgan's over the top remarks?



He may lose his job on 30 Rock over them.

[soliloquy76.livejournal.com]

I didn't hear them, but considering the source, I'm not really surprised. That guy is legitimately crazy. It's not an act. A local radio station has professional comedians on their talk radio show each week and each one of them has a story about him and some crazy shit he's done.

If his remarks make other people on the show uncomfortable to work with him, then absolutely he should be fired. He's probably better off solo anyways.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

I don't feel to bad for Tracy myself. How about you?

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Not at all, He can't hold a comic candle to Chris Rock's talents. Tracy Morgan's stand-up has never been particularly funny to me.

[yes-justice.livejournal.com]

Hopefully, he grows up a bit from this experience.

[fizzyland.livejournal.com]

And Ted Bundy was a charming conversationalist... it's hard to overlook things like hatred towards groups when discussing character.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

I love generalizations, they're so easy to throw.

[allhatnocattle.livejournal.com]

Easier then throwing one's voice.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

lol

[luvdovz.livejournal.com]

Not only are the Slavs Catholics very homophobic,

Fixed for your convenience.

[notmrgarrison.livejournal.com]

This must be one of the 150 or so countries people ignore when comparing the U.S. to the rest of the world.

[raichu100.livejournal.com]

ugh, how awful. :/

srs though, I wish there were subtitles to the vid or translations or sth

[telemann.livejournal.com]

I think it's a cool language to listen to. But yeah, I wished I understood what they're saying.

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

It's 99% the same as Serbian. Sounds a bit weird to Eastern Balkaners.

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Do you speak Serbian at all? I know you're a polyglot, but can't recall which languages you speak fluently. How did you become so proficient in English? If you mentioned this before, my apologies for forgetting (let me use Rod Turner's excuse: old fart syndrome :P)

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

I can't say I *speak* Serbian, but I understand it almost completely. There's some difference between being able to speak and understanding, some practicing would help those two things merge, but unfortunately I haven't had much chance to practice.

Polyglot? Nope, or maybe, dunno. Depends how you define that. In a country where most people don't care to learn any other language than their own because it's the global lingua franca, sure, even a trilingual person would probably be considered a polyglot. In terms of fluent speaking, I could call myself trilingual. In terms of understanding, we could double that number but that doesn't count as polyglot (at least not here). The only foreign languages I'm fluent in are English and Russian. I could easily understand Serbo-Croat, Macedonian, German, and Spanish and a little of Swedish (was a great fan in my Uni years) but again, I can't use them.

I learned English at the English Language School in my town (Plovdiv). Language schools were and are still considered the top secondary schools, both during communism (where they were an outlet for new ideas and sending your kids there was a matter of prestige) and nowadays (where it's more like a trampoline to the better humanitary disciplines in the universities, and in the best case, for studying [and immigrating] abroad).

[blue-mangos.livejournal.com]

The Catholic Church has so much to answer for. And just like in Moscow, I commend the bravery of those who marched. Also, I love the icon you used in the OP!

[telemann.livejournal.com]

Thanks :: BLUSH ::