At least eight people were injured and three arrested after followers of the radical Muslim Wahabbi movement tried to block the opening of Bosnia's first gay festival.

The incident took place on September 24 night, in the centre of Bosnian capital of Sarajevo. Among injured were two local journalists, one policeman and one Danish citizen who was reportedly a guest at the festival, local media reported on September 25.

The "Queer Sarajevo Festival" is the first such major public event organised by the Bosnian LGBTIQ (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex, Questioning and Queer) community. It is taking place between September 24 and 25 and includes a series of art events and film screenings but no public parade.

The decision to hold this festival has triggered tensions and public debate in Sarajevo and the rest of the country, when it became obvious that the festival - which was planned at least a year in advance - will fall in the middle of Muslim's holy month of Ramadan.

Bosnia's small but vociferous Wahabbi community saw this as a deliberate provocation and openly called for blood. "Kill the gays" posters appeared across Sarajevo.
 
These threats were countered by strong support from the country's moderate media, civil society and international organisations and western embassies.
 
In a recent interview for the Balkan Insight, Svetlana Djurkovic, the president of the Sarajevo-based gay association "Q" said that this had created an environment in which she and her staff fear for their lives.
 
Only a handful of opponents of the Queer festival gathered in city centre of September 24 afternoon. Their number rose to around a hundred, who then tried to secure strong police security around Sarajevo's Art Academy, where the festival kicked off with a photo and sculpture exhibition.
 
The violence broke out at the end of the programme when participants and journalists tried to leave the academy. After briefly clashing with police, protestors dispersed and few smaller groups attacked journalists and participants who attended the opening. Most of the injured people suffered only minor injuries and only the Danish citizen was hospitalised, media said.

Local civil society groups and some media strongly criticised the violence, which they saw as vandalism and a direct attack on tolerance in Bosnia.
 
"The tolerance of violence by a religious movement which has nothing to do with the (traditional) Islam in Bosnia and Herzegovina, raises the question of whether Bosnia and Herzegovina is an Islamic or a secular country and whether Serbs, Croats, Jews and others are allowed to organise their cultural events during the holy month of Ramadan," said a statement by the non-government organisation, Front. It also called on the Islamic community to openly denounce the vandals.

Source: BalkanInsight.com