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In more than half of the violent incidents Zagreb Pride documented, police or courts failed to recognise the hate motive. Five years after Europe's human rights court ruled against Croatia over a €40 fine for a homophobic attack, activists say not enough has changed.
Thousands filled central Zagreb on June 6 for the 25th Povorka ponosa, a march that has run without interruption since 2002 and now anchors Pride season in the Western Balkans.
Croatia is now the most legally protective country in the Western Balkans for LGBTQ+ people — but the road from constitutional ban to court-ordered adoption rights ran through 25 years of Pride marches, not parliamentary good will.
In 2002, a few hundred people marched through Zagreb under police protection and open hostility. In 2026, the march celebrates a quarter century of resistance and progress.
