“Last week the Ministry of Interior received a call from the ambassador of Netherlands, who, on behalf of the Netherlands and ambassadors from three other countries- United States, Great Britain, and Spain- expressed an interest in meeting with the leadership of the Ministry to discuss the upcoming parade of  sexual minorities,” Mr. S. Liutkevičius, Vice-Minister of the Interior.

According to Mr. Liutkevičius, the ambassador stressed that this event is going to be exceptional and will receive a lot of attention not only from Lithuanian media and society, but from foreign press and society as well. So, it is likely that attendance is going to be high. For this reason it is important to make sure that provocations, conflicts and altercations will be avoided and that public safety is well taken care of.

When Mr. Liutkevičius was asked if such an address by foreign ambassadors was peculiar, he said that it should not be over-exaggerated. “This is a very standard position. The Ministry was approached by ambassadors from countries where parades of sexual minorities are not a novelty. Looking through a political prism it is mandatory to realize that other countries will be carefully observing Lithuania throughout the parade and will evaluate the country according to how the parade proceeds. That is why we have to prepare for it very seriously” the Vice-Minister of the Interior said.

Mr. Liutkevičius highlighted that the foreign ambassadors were most worried about the information that appeared in the public sphere which stated that the participants of the parade will have to take care of their own safety. “The permit issued by the municipality of the City of Vilnius requests that the participants hire their own security. Nonetheless we agree with the organizers of the parade that the protection of safety in the public sphere is the responsibility of our institutions and we will certainly be ready to do our job,” said Mr. Liutkevičius.

The officer drew attention to an interesting provision in the permit- that the parade is to proceed in Olimpiečių Street “without hindering traffic” and “according to traffic regulations”. According to Mr. Liutkevičius this means that the participants of the parade will have to walk on the sidewalks. “However, if the parade is well attended and the sidewalks will not be enough, the police will be ready to block part of the road for the parade”- assured the officer.

He drew attention to another interesting thing about the municipality’s permit: the permit states that the event’s territory will have to be blocked by security fences. “Participants of the parade will walk a certain distance and will then gather in a spot where the event will take place. This section will have to be fenced off. This is a security requirement and we will obey by it,” said Mr. Liutkevičius

For his part, Mr. J.C. S. Wijnands, the Dutch ambassador in Lithuania, told that he and his colleagues are collecting information relating to the parade set to occur on the 8th of May, to answer the questions received from various organizations in their respective countries about th event. Ambassador confirmed that during the meeting with the officers from the Ministry of the Interior, they plan to discuss the “Baltic Pride” parade along with other questions.

“We do not have any concrete suggestions to the Ministry of the Interior but we are interested in their perspectives about the parade, especially the kind of security measures that will be taken during the event and keeping in mind that citizens of other countries will be participating,” said the ambassador J.C.S Wijnands.

Vytautas Grašys, the head of Public Safety agency of the Vilnius County Police Headquarters assured that no special means of security are being taken for the parade of sexual minorities. “The police have experience with various kinds of security measures during such events as with meeting the President of the United States, the Pope, or others. So, the sexual minorities’ parade will not be an absolutely new occurrence. The police have their own tactics on how to work during such events,” said Mr. Grašys.

According to him, the public opinion of such an event is important; for this reason the police are monitoring and observing responses of the society about the upcoming parade of the sexual minorities.

The head of the Public Safety agency of the Vilnius County Police Headquarters mentioned that in the beginning of the week there was a meeting between the police representatives and the organizers of the event. Mr. Grašys said that the parade and common security measures were discussed.  Another similar meeting during which concrete security measures will be discussed is scheduled for in the coming weeks.

Mr. Grašys stated that an agreement between the police and the organizers was reached where both parties will try to ensure safety during the parade. “The organizers of the parade informed us that volunteers will participate in the event and will be ready to keep order in the parade internally: they will ensure the direction of the parade, will make sure route is correct, and so on,” said the representative.