LITHUANIAN AUTHORITIES have come under fire for banning tomorrow’s planned gay pride march over fears that opponents of the event could attack it.
A court in the capital, Vilnius, suspended a permit for Lithuania’s first gay parade after the country’s acting prosecutor general Raimondas Petrauskas said he had evidence “that members of hardline, violent groups are planning to protest and organise various provocative acts”.
Organisers of the event and human rights activists said the ban amounted to discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans-gender (LGBT) people in mostly Catholic and morally conservative Lithuania, and the country’s president quickly condemned the court decision.
“What’s most astonishing is the fact that the police say they are ready to provide security, while the chief prosecutor sees a risk,” said Linas Balsys, a spokesman for President Dalia Grybauskaite.
“The bodies responsible for public order, above all the police, have an obligation to ensure a situation remains calm and there are no clashes. There’s a constitutional right to peaceful assembly. If groups of citizens or organisations aren’t illegal, they have a right to express their views,” he added.
Lithuania has never hosted a gay parade, and similar events in the Baltic states and across eastern Europe regularly run into opposition from conservative politicians, and are often attacked by right-wing groups.
Mr Petrauskas said the gay pride march would be like “a red rag to a bull” at a time when it was “easy to provoke disturbances” due to widespread public anger at a rise in unemployment and poverty due to the economic crisis.
“Whose fault would it be if anyone got hurt?” he asked.
“It might look like we are homophobic but I am not sure that pictures of violence on TV would make us look any better.”
One of the parade organisers Arturas Rudomanskis said: “Lithuania was able to protect the US president during his visit here and also the British queen. So why can’t the country assure the safety of a peaceful meeting by its own citizens?”
“Lithuania’s authorities must ensure that the march goes ahead,” said Colm O’Gorman, executive director of Amnesty International Ireland, some of whose members will be in Vilnius this weekend.
