Organisers of the forthcoming Zagreb Gay Pride Parade announced on Tuesday they were organising a peaceful march in central Zagreb on Saturday, calling on well-meaning citizens to join them regardless of their sexual orientation.
We expect a record number of participants and friends from entire Croatia, from the region and from western Europe, activist Marko Jurcic told a news conference in Zagreb.
He read out a brief statement about the satisfaction of the the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community with a meeting of their representatives with President Ivo Josipovic earlier in the day.
They praised Josipovic for unequivocal condemnation of the violence at the parade in the southern coastal city of Split last Saturday.
Jurcic said that they were closely following what the police were doing to deal with the homophobic violence at the Split march. They said they would insist on criminal charges being pressed against anti-parade demonstrators.
According to Jurcic, in contrast to president Josipovic, reactions of the government, including Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor, were lukewarm.
He accused them of "betraying Croatia, European and democratic values".
Jurcic said that last year's parade in the Croatian capital drew 1,000 marchers.
