Josipovic later told the press that they had discussed tomorrow's march, expressing expectations that everything would pass in an orderly fashion and peacefully.

He said that they had also discussed the need to regulate by law relations in homosexual families.

"It was a pleasure for me to talk with them. I was acquainted with their problems and with possibilities of solving them, and I believe that we will soon start drafting appropriate legislation, following the government's announcements to that effect," Josipovic said.

Marko Jurcic, one of the organisers of the Zagreb Pride Parade, called on the residents of Zagreb to join the parade, scheduled to begin at 1100 hrs Saturday.

The theme of the 11th parade of the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) community is families in the LGBT community.

Earlier on Friday, the government's task force monitoring hate crime appealed to the citizens to behave in the spirit of tolerance and in accordance with the anti-discriminatory legislation during the parade.

The Interior Ministry said that during the Gay Pride Parade in Split on 9 June no cases of injury or property destruction had been reported and that the event had passed in a tolerant atmosphere.