Tight Security in Belgrade ahead of Gay Pride March

The Serbian capital Belgrade was under tight security Sunday ahead of the Gay Pride parade, the second in a row since the event was marred by violence in 2010.

Hundreds of riot police officers were deployed in the city center with several armored and water cannon vehicles parked at main crossings in the downtown area where roads have been closed to traffic since the early morning.

Organizers say there have been significantly fewer threats of disruption by far-right groups than in past years, which saw the government forced to cancel such events.

A year ago Serbian gays and lesbians staged their first incident-free Belgrade Pride Parade in four years, in what was seen as a test of the EU hopeful's commitment to protecting minority rights.

At Belgrade's first-ever Gay Pride march in 2010, hardline nationalists attacked participants and clashed with police, wounding 150 people and prompting officials to ban the parade for the next three years.

Organizers have this year hailed what they called a warmer reception for the LGBT event.

The march, which was to start at noon (1000 GMT) in front of the seat of the Serbian government, was expected to gather several hundred people and to move through the city center to Belgrade City Hall some two kilometers (1.5 miles) away.

Belgrade has been under pressure to improve protection for minorities including the LGBT community since starting accession talks with the European Union last year.

Homophobia is widespread in Serbian and other conservative Balkan societies.