About 50 “All Different All Equal” campaign supporters started a March for Diversity in the centre of the city at about 7 p.m. on Thursday, July 12. The group also included performers on stilts and dressed in various costumes. They were handing out campaign materials to the crowd when a few hooligans started throwing various objects at them but they did not pay attention and proceeded to the park leading out of the city centre.
At that time, they were attacked by about several ultranationalists who seemed to have been waiting there. The attackers started chanting xenophobic statements, kicking and beating people, breaking their glasses, and throwing performers off the stilts. Police arrived in about 20 minutes after the start of the incident.
One person was hospitalised with a temporary memory loss but was later checked out in a stable condition. Others were injured but did not require hospitalization.
The campaigners marched again in large numbers on Friday, July 13 to show that they were not intimidated. They also held a press-conference and were interviewed by MTV.
Assault mars EXIT opening
13 July 2007 | 12:53 | Source: FoNet NOVI SAD -- NGO activists were assaulted Thursday during the promotion of the All different – All equal campaign in Novi Sad.
The campaign’s public relations officer told B92 that participants of the festive procession were physically assaulted in downtown Novi Sad by a group of six bald-headed youths.
Assailants knocked down a performer who sustained head and arms injuries, while five others were wounded lightly.
Novi Sad police spokesman Stevan Krstić confirmed to B92 that the incident occurred in Dunavska Street adding that police launched an investigation and planned to issue a press release shortly.
All different – All equal campaign, sponsored by the Council of Europe, is an international event that takes place in several European states.
It promotes equality and speaks against racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and intolerance.
Its Serbian leg is set within the EXIT Music Festival that opened Thursday in Novi Sad, involving young Serbian NGO activists.
This year’s EXIT, set to last through July 16 at the Petrovaradin Fortress, features around 400 performers from all over the world.
VIP daily bulletin
Hooligans Attacked Participants of Campaign for Equality in Novi Sad
In Novi Sad, a group of ten hooligans attacked and beaten up on Thursday afternoon activists of the campaign “All different – all equal” that is being promoted during the festival EXIT in Vojvodina’s capital.
The hooligans attacked activists in Dunavski Park, in the very center of the city, and the incident was soon reported to the police, TV B92 reported.
Two injured activists, one of them from Israel, were kept in hospital.
Despite the fact that Novi Sad has the reputation of being a cosmopolitan city inhabited by over 20 nations, this town has become in the past fifteen years a sort of the center for skinheads and similar groups of hooligans and troublemakers.
The festival EXIT, seventh in order, started on Thursday evening on Petrovaradin fortress by a concert of the band Prodigy. According to media reports, over 20,000 visitors who came from European countries are in Novi Sad for the festival.
FONET NEWS AGENCY
Attack of the hooligans on activists in Novi Sad
Novi Sad, July 12 (Fonet) – During the promotion of the campaign “All Different-All Equal” in Novi Sad a group of hooligans attacked the campaign activists.
Campaign’s PR officer Biljana Simonovic told B92 that the participants of the march were passing through a park down town and animating people when they were attacked by a group of six bold young men. One of the participants who was walking on stools was pushed down and sustained head and arm injuries, she said adding that five more people sustained light injuries.
Spokesman of the Novi Sad police Stevan Krstic confirmed to B92 that the attack happened downtown and that the police are establishing the facts.
He said some of the activists sustained light injuries and announced police will soon issue a statement.
Campaign “All Different-All Equal” is conducted in several European countries and will hold two panel discussions about the anti-discriminatory law and the campaign itself during the Exit festival.
7th Exit festival opened today with the acrobatics spectacle of Akro group Stars from Novi Sad who flew above the town in four “Galeb” jet planes.
Around 400 artists from all over the world, performing on 24 stages, will entertain tens of thousands music fans.
Novi Sad Radio 021
PROCESSION ATTACKED
“Procession of diversity”, part of the “All Different-All Equal Campaign” has been attacked in the Danube Park in Novi Sad. According to unofficial information, a group of young men attacked two Israelis who were on stools and in the procession. One person sustained serious injuries while another light. Police report is expected.
General Manager of this youth campaign Michael Raphael was also in the procession. The campaign “All Different-All Equal”, initiated by the Council of Europe last year, is conducted during the Exit festival to promote richness in diversity.
