By: Gašper Blažič
The editorial team received a rather unusual, if not confusing, content from the Police Directorate Ljubljana to our email address. It reads as follows:
“We kindly ask you to publish the call in the media: First, let us say that the police have zero tolerance for all forms of violence, condemn them sharply, and will do everything to identify and appropriately sanction the perpetrators of the mentioned act.
Yesterday, around 5:30 pm, we were informed about the damage to the flag in front of the building in the centre of Ljubljana. It was found that a group of unknown individuals approached the flagpole in front of the building, the group removed the rainbow flag and set it on fire. The group consists of teenagers aged between 15 and 18, mostly dressed in black, accompanied by a girl in a white coat. The group fled in the direction of Miklošičeva Street. The police are still investigating all the circumstances of the event and collecting information regarding the suspicion of committing the criminal offense of public incitement to hatred, violence, or intolerance. The competent state prosecutor’s office will be informed of all findings.
All who know anything about the event or have noticed the mentioned group of teenagers are kindly asked to report information to the Police Station Ljubljana Centre, telephone number 113, or anonymously at 080 1200.”
At the beginning of reading the message, we thought that it came to the humiliation of the state symbols of the Republic of Slovenia or perhaps to the burning of the Israeli flag (which would not be unusual at this time, as there are quite a few pro-Palestinian extremists in Slovenia). Well, in the continuation of the message, it was stated in the text that it is about the rainbow flag and not about state symbols. Apparently, this was an event that had already occurred on Saturday.
But the police apparently rang the bells even more because it turned out to be an event that also greatly disturbed Prime Minister Robert Golob. He said: “I strongly condemn yesterday’s incident at the opening of the LGBT film festival. The rainbow flag symbolises the pride and rights of the LGBTQ community, so any destruction of the flag is unacceptable and inappropriate. Intolerance and discrimination based on various personal circumstances have no place in society. I reject all acts of hatred and all forms of discrimination.”
Quite hypocritical message, as it is known that representatives of the government remained silent when there were attacks on the symbols of the March for Life – flags on Congress Square, which point to murdered unborn children. Also, on some abuses and attacks on state symbols, the current government together with the president remained silent:
In short, a pretty selective logic. After all, the rainbow flag was originally a symbol of peace, not LGBT ideology. The question arises whether, if there were to be a burning of some other flag (for example, the Vatican’s), the government would define this act as a performance or an expression of artistic freedom.
So, if the perpetrators were punished, they could only be justified for damaging foreign property. Still, spreading hatred could only be punished if the perpetrators confessed their motive for burning as an expression of hatred towards the same-sex oriented. The previous case law has shown that perpetrators of similar criminal acts aimed at the current opposition, or the Catholic Church have been tolerated by the courts and law enforcement authorities.