Eight Injured at
Sarajevo Pride Festival

Bosnia and Herzegovina's first gay pride festival, which took place Wednesday in the capital city of Sarajevo, was marred when eight participants and journalists were attacked. Police told reporters that dozens of homophobic vandals came to the festival's opening ceremony in front of the city's Academy of Fine Arts, according to the BBC News. Demonstrators chanted "Kill the Gays" and "Allahu Akbar" ("God Is Great").

"When I was getting out of the academy, I was suddenly struck in the back," festival participant Pedja Kojovic told Agence France-Presse. "Three other people then came running and beat me up." A journalist trying to help Kojovic was also severely beaten.

About 50 people participated in the opening ceremony.

Festival organizers say they had been receiving death threats leading up to the event. Sarajevo is a predominantly Muslim city, and religious leaders said the timing of the festival and the holy month of Ramadan was provocative, the BBC reports. Officials with several of the country's political parties have declared homosexuality deviant and an illness.

According to Amnesty International, local publications like Dnevni Avaz SAFF have used derogatory language to bash the festival, which ends September 28. Some websites have called for festival organizers to be lynched, stoned, doused with gasoline, or kicked out of the country.

An activist with the gay rights organization Udruzenje Q told Amnesty International before the festival that his group did not feel safe.

"Some of us had to find new accommodations because our names and addresses were made publicly known," he said. "We are afraid to use public transport or go out alone. Our dogs are our best protection at the moment. We feel isolated."

Police quelled protesters, though violence still spread to nearby streets. (Michelle Garcia, The Advocate)