The Latvian
capital of Riga on Wednesday became the latest Eastern
European city to scuttle plans for a gay pride
parade when it refused organizers' request to
stage the event this weekend. The city council claimed
it could not ensure the safety of participants in the
parade, the Associated Press reports.
"The city council met and decided not to allow
the gay pride parade to take place because of security
concerns," Sandra Grinberga, a city council
spokesperson, said in a statement, according to the AP.
Organizers of the march planned to appeal the decision with
the Riga administrative court, which last year
reversed a similar decision by the city council and
allowed Riga's inaugural gay pride parade to take
place despite municipal concerns.
"We think this is a huge blow for democracy in
Latvia," Katrina Schwartz, a spokesperson for the
pride organizers, told the AP. "The city council
is caving in to extremists, and this sets a very bad
precedent." She added that if the city cannot guarantee
the safety of marchers in the parade, then its ability to
provide security at a NATO summit of world leaders in
Riga later this year must be questioned.
"If the city council is being sincere and
stating that they literally cannot guarantee security
for this event, then I think that absolutely the
Latvian government and NATO have to be reconsidering the
country's preparedness to host the NATO summit,"
Schwartz said.
Last year some 30 gay rights supporters marched
through the city's Old Town center in front of
thousands of onlookers, many of whom shouted insults
or displayed antigay signs; some even hurled debris at the
marchers. This year's parade has already been protested by
demonstrators who have assembled outside the city hall
as well by some of Latvia's religious leaders.
Among the 500 marchers expected this year,
should the parade take place, are dignitaries
from Sweden and Denmark. (The Advocate)
