Bosnian LGBT activists on Monday condemned a violent attack on some of their activists by a group of hooligans on Saturday in Banja Luka, the administrative centre of Republika Srpska, one of the two entities in Bosnia, calling it a clear hate crime.
Bosnia Pride March told a press conference in Bosnia’s capital Sarajevo on Monday: “The case is now classified as a violent act but this was clearly a hate crime based on sexual orientation, and we will insist on the investigation going in this way.”
After the Pride organisers planned to hold a closed film projection and panel discussion in Banja Luka on Saturday, RS police banned the event for security reasons.
The organisers then decided to hold a closed meeting to discuss their next steps in the premises of international watchdog Transparency International in Banja Luka.
There, they also invited Vanja Stokic, editor-in-chief of eTrafika website and her boyfriend, Ajdin Kamber – also a journalist and activist, where they were soon attacked.
After the police told the group to leave Banja Luka because they couldn’t guarantee their safety, they left the premises and became exposed in the street, where Stokic and Kamber met them.
“They were discussing the next steps, how many cars they have and where to go, when the police arrived. I felt relieved. Literally, ten seconds later, my boyfriend turned around and said: ‘Here they come,’ and when I looked, I saw some 20 or 30 hooligans running towards us,” Stokic told BIRN.
“They threw me over the wall where I hurt my arm, they broke a glass bottle hitting my boyfriend in the head, and one of the activists has injuries on her stomach … which she sustained while running away from the hooligans,” Stokic added.
Stokic and Kamber started looking for others with a car, when they saw a police car parked in a street next to the one where the attack took place.
“We told them [two police officers] that they are beating up people in the next street, but they replied that ‘it’s not their problem’ or something like that. When we asked them to tell us their names, they refused. We wrote down their car plates and reported them later while at the police. This was a clear hate crime,” Stokic said. She added that four lawyers came to the police to offer help.
According to Stokic, the attack, which turned into a man-hunt on the streets of Banja Luka, was a result of the rhetoric used by Bosnian Serb politicians prior to the event.
On Friday, Milorad Dodik, president of Republika Srpska, called on authorities to “think about banning the [Pride] event,” saying many organisations and individuals had written to him following an incident on March 8, when a women rights’ marcher was attacked for carrying a rainbow-coloured flag, a symbol of the LGBT community.
Drasko Stanivukovic, Mayor of Banja Luka, echoed Dodik’s statements and called on authorities to cancel the Pride event, adding that “Banja Luka is not ready for the Pride Parade.”
Media and rights organisations, the OSCE, the US, EU and the Office of the High Representative all condemned the attack.
“TI Bosnia and Herzegoovina believes this attack is a direct consequence of messages sent from the highest level of government, which go in the direction of labelling and intimidating activists who fight for human rights,” Bosnian Transparency International wrote in a press release.
Stanivukovic on Twitter on Sunday condemned the violence but denied that he had contributed to it. “Banjaluka will remain a bastion of traditionally patriarchal family values and I am proud of that, not intruding on anyone’s right to love whomever they want, but not to parade it that way,” Stanivukovic wrote.
“Every government is obliged to create the values it believes in with its policy, and we believe that the family is the pillar of our society,” he added, saying that it was his duty to “protect the people and Republika Srpska.”
Dodik also condemned the violence, adding that “he feels no remorse because of it, as they were told not to gather.”
“Since March 8, we have been receiving organised threats via social media, and every one of them is documented and reported to the police,” Bosnia’s Pride organisers concluded, announcing criminal charges against Dodik and Stanivukovic.
Source : BalkanInsight