prijava
SARAJEVO, August 23 (FENA) - The organizing committee of the BiH Pride March 2020 marked the date of the second protest march that was to take place in Sarajevo by holding campaigns with alternative content amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Because of the epidemiological situation in BiH, the protest march was postponed, but activists from BiH took the chance to voice their message to the public and the institutions that LGBTIQ people are part of BiH society and as such they demand equal rights.
The statement points out that the BiH Pride March is not a commercial event, but a necessary political protest and act of resistance, as are the protests of other disenfranchised citizens.
They state that the institutions in charge of enforcing the Law on Public Assemblies have a disproportionate approach to human rights protests, and protests with the LGBTIQ symbolism are additionally affected.
"The BiH Pride March, for the second year in a row, has received the demands from the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Sarajevo Canton ordering additional security measures, which were not imposed in the case of any other protest, although they were characterized as high-risk gatherings, but were covered by the competent institutions," the organizers said.
As they point out, by placing these security measures at the expense of the organizers, the state thus sends out a message that it does not have the capacity or does not want to provide full security protection to LGBTIQ people and other participants in the pride march.
"In practice, in the Sarajevo Canton, only LGBTIQ protests are burdened with such additional measures. These measures condition the use of public space to protest against violence, discrimination and the unequal position of LGBTIQ persons. By failing to meet these conditions, we are then not allowed to take to the streets and fight for our human rights," it is underlined in the statement.
(FENA) S. R.
