shegeek72
2006-08-29 03:35:05 UTC
The second effort to stage a Gay Pride parade in Riga, Latvia, was an
unmitigated disater July 22. The City Council and the court banned the
parade, claiming police wouldn't be able to protect marchers from
marauding homophobic mobs.
So, acvtivists instead staged a religious service at a church and
meetings at a hotel. Homophobes were not deterred.
Scores of nati-gay protestors gathered outside the Anglican church and
flung human excrement, eggs and rotten food at gays and lesbians as
they left the building.
"I was hit with a bag full of feces," said Rev. Maris Sants. The Rev.
Juris Calitis added: "Protestors threw human excrement on us. I was
covered with it from head to foot."
British participant Peter Tatchell said: "Worshippers were pelted with
feces and rotten fruit. Despite previously requesting police
protection, no police were present to protect the congregation."
Activist meetings later in the day at the posh Reval Hotel met a
similar fate, attracting hundreds of anti-gay demonstrators.
"[We were] under siege all day from protestors from the anti-gay 'No
Pride' movement - a highly organized alliance of Christian
fundamentalists, ultra-nationalists and neo-Nazis," said Tatchell.
"They roamed the streets outside the hotel looking for gays and
lesbians to attack. Anyone who 'looked gay' was liable to abuse and
assault, even passing tourists. The police seemed to stand back and let
them terrorize people with impunity."
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga commented: "Latvia is a
democratic country that wishes and is able to ensure human rights of
every person living here. The government of Latvia is clearly against
discrimination of any kind. It is worth noting that not long before the
parade the Cabinet of Ministers adopted decisions preventing
discrimination of sexual minorities in [the] labor market."
[Just Out, August 18]
unmitigated disater July 22. The City Council and the court banned the
parade, claiming police wouldn't be able to protect marchers from
marauding homophobic mobs.
So, acvtivists instead staged a religious service at a church and
meetings at a hotel. Homophobes were not deterred.
Scores of nati-gay protestors gathered outside the Anglican church and
flung human excrement, eggs and rotten food at gays and lesbians as
they left the building.
"I was hit with a bag full of feces," said Rev. Maris Sants. The Rev.
Juris Calitis added: "Protestors threw human excrement on us. I was
covered with it from head to foot."
British participant Peter Tatchell said: "Worshippers were pelted with
feces and rotten fruit. Despite previously requesting police
protection, no police were present to protect the congregation."
Activist meetings later in the day at the posh Reval Hotel met a
similar fate, attracting hundreds of anti-gay demonstrators.
"[We were] under siege all day from protestors from the anti-gay 'No
Pride' movement - a highly organized alliance of Christian
fundamentalists, ultra-nationalists and neo-Nazis," said Tatchell.
"They roamed the streets outside the hotel looking for gays and
lesbians to attack. Anyone who 'looked gay' was liable to abuse and
assault, even passing tourists. The police seemed to stand back and let
them terrorize people with impunity."
Latvian President Vaira Vike-Freiberga commented: "Latvia is a
democratic country that wishes and is able to ensure human rights of
every person living here. The government of Latvia is clearly against
discrimination of any kind. It is worth noting that not long before the
parade the Cabinet of Ministers adopted decisions preventing
discrimination of sexual minorities in [the] labor market."
[Just Out, August 18]