Only days later did the faith body appear to distance itself from the cleric, saying his views did not reflect its position. Just hours after they said on August 6 that they were cancelling the march “in the name of solidarity with all those who are victims of the pandemic and of the negligence of the political system”, the activists were harshly reminded of the hostility felt towards them from part of society.Ī controversial Sarajevo imam thanked God and the coronavirus for cancelling the march in a post on Facebook – where he has tens of thousands of followers – drawing almost no public reaction except from a few prominent individuals.īosnia’s official Islamic Community at first had no comment on Muhamed Velic’s remarks, its spokesman telling BIRN that it does not regulate the work of imams that closely. All these problems have increased during the pandemic, when we had to enclose ourselves within our walls from which we want to escape,” the Pride march’s webinar co-host, Dajana Bakic, said. “For all of us, this is a new situation and a challenge, but it is important to find new models for our fight and to clearly state our problems in Bosnian society, which is why such a protest is organised. With the march postponed for a better time, Halilcevic and his fellow activists say they will now work on putting out online content on the original day of the march that will focus on the issues and problems of the community, but also on those affecting other marginalized groups whose right to freedom and public assembly has been curbed. Imam’s sharp reminder of public hostility “When you find yourself in a situation with a similar pattern, where you have already experienced that your gatherings or requests have been rejected, it requires deeper research and questioning of the reasons – did we postpone the march because it had become a security issue, or was this just another of those homophobic challenges that we need to overcome? I believe it is both,” Halilcevic said. It is a reminder of all those other excuses when we were rejected for this or that reason,” Mirza Halilcevic told a webinar he co-hosted for fellow Pride committee members that was streamed live on the march’s Facebook page this week. “It is symptomatic that under the excuse of security or pandemic issues, gatherings that have an LGBTIQ prefix are being forbidden. The health situation has forced the Sarajevo Film Festival, the capital’s annual cultural highlight, to switch to a full online format for this year’s edition, starting August 14. ![]() Sarajevo has now become a regional hotspot for COVID-19 after a spike in infections in the last two months, with dozens, sometimes up to a hundred, new cases reported daily. Last year, some 3,000 activists, supporters and allies from Bosnia and the region walked through the centre of Sarajevo under heavy security in September, at the first such event ever held in Bosnia. The organisers had planned to stage a march respecting current public gathering restrictions, including the ban on more than 100 people attending any outdoor events. ![]() The Sarajevo Canton government had given its support for this year’s march, however, with technocrat Prime Minister Mario Nenadic saying they wanted to improve the human rights of all citizens.īut the Pride organizers said they still faced additional hurdles such as strict security measures that are not usually imposed on other “high-risk” gatherings.
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