EuroPride 2022, the pan-European LGBTQ+ festival, held annually in various cities on the continent, with more than a hundred events, including a pride parade, is scheduled to take place in Serbia this year, between September 12 and September 17.

Serbia, which is actively seeking European Union (EU) membership, has pledged to protect LGBTQ+ rights as part of its integration into the pan-European group.

But apparently, this major international LGBTQ+ event was not meant to be after all, for Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vucic has confirmed today his earlier event cancellation announcement, repeating that the EuroPride 2022 festival will not be going ahead, due to ‘safety concerns.’

Vucic had already vowed last month that the march will be canceled, after protests against it broke out in Serbia’s capital city of Belgrade selected to host the LGBTQ+ parade.

The ‘security situation’ in Belgrade remained ‘difficult,’ Vucic said today, adding that it was unsafe to hold the event due to threats from right-wing extremists and to fears of violence.

“It’s possible that there could be major unrest… we want to avoid that,” he said.

According to the president, the decision on the parade will be made by Serbia’s interior ministry 96 hours before its scheduled start ‘in line with the Constitution and laws.’

Vucic insisted that the government “will not invent any nonsense” to ban the gay parade, addressing some reports that the authorities could use the monkeypox epidemic an excuse for event’s cancellation.

According to one of the EuroPride 2022 organizers, Goran Miletic, none of the festival’s range of activities, including the march, have yet been officially banned, as of yesterday.

“We don’t consider it an option to cancel or postpone the Parade. It will happen according to a plan, because EuroPride cannot be imagined without a Parade,” Miletic said, inviting everyone to join the march on September 17 and to “walk together for love.”

The Council of Europe commissioner for human rights Dunja Mijatovic said earlier this week that Brussels has been working with the authorities in Belgrade “to ensure that freedom of assembly and freedom of expression are guaranteed for everyone, without discrimination” during the festival.