Violence Mars Montenegro's First Gay-Pride Parade

Police have clashed with antigay protesters trying to disrupt the first gay-pride parade to be held in Montenegro.

Several hundred protesters shouting "Kill the gays!" threw stones, bottles, and other objects at police and several dozen activists marching in support of gay rights in the coastal town of Budva on July 24.

Police said at least 10 protesters were arrested and several marchers were injured.

"We will not stop, we will not give up, we will organize gay-pride parades in Montenegro, just because of this, of what you can hear them shouting that we should be killed," Zdravko Cimbaljevic, one of the parade's organizers, told Reuters.

"We should not be killed, we have to live together, as a people that should live together, and fight together against discrimination and against inequality in our society."

Ahead of the march, several newspapers had published mock obituaries of gay activists.



Previous attempts to organize pride events in the staunchly conservative country have failed over threats of violence.

The Balkan nation of 600,000 is in talks to join the European Union, and the government had urged tolerance.

Based on reporting by Reuters and AP