PROTESTS OVER HOMOSEXUALITY TURN TO RIOTS- PRO-LGBT GROUPS CLASH WITH OPPONENTS OF HOMOSEXUALITY
- KING CONDEMNS VIOLENCE AS POLICE STRUGGLE TO MAINTAIN ORDER
November 18th 2014
Peaceful protests have turned to violent clashes, as pro and anti LGBT rights groups took to the streets after a petition against the Homosexual Law Reform Bill was delivered to Parliament.
Clashes between pro-LGBT groups and opponents to homosexual law reform have turned into some of the worst
violence Alizeria has ever seen
In what is believed to be some of the worst violence in Alizeria since the Westfield Miners Strike in 1909, witnesses in the capital city of Krostuk described clashes between two rival groups of protesters as "like a civil war", while police in riot gear attempted to keep order - the first time Alizerian police have ever had to resort to using riot gear.
The clashes began after a truck delivered a petition to Parliament against a bill to decriminalise homosexuality which was signed by over a million people - more than a third of Alizeria's adult population.
Pro-LGBT protestors attempted to stop the truck from reaching Parliament by blocking off Cornellia Avenue - the major road leading to the Houses of Parliament, with many throwing eggs at the truck as it slowly approached Parliament.
Opponents of the bill retaliated at first confronting the pro-LGBT group, singing hymns and carrying Bibles and crosses. It is unknown at this stage as to when it happened, but at some point a fist fight between members of the rival groups broke out on the intersection of Cornellia Avenue and Sheeptown Quay, disrupting traffic and causing police to intervene.
Six policemen are believed to have been injured as members of both groups clashed with police while attempting to march up King Street in downtown Krostuk.
Police have since barricaded off a number of streets in central Krostuk, while entire suburbs have been blocked off, including the suburbs of Sheeptown, Ducklands, Eastmunster and Arrowton at northern end of Brittany Place.
Commuters attempting to enter the city via rail have also been delayed by several hours after an explosive device now believed to have been a firework was denoted near Krostuk Central Station. One commuter who was travelling into the city from the southern suburb of Jewtown said he "noticed absolutely nothing unusual" and that "the trains are always delayed."
There was violence reported in other cities, including a report of around 200 pro-LGBT protesters who entered and vandalised a church in Everton, and another of policemen in Auckonto being attacked after attempting to arrest 24 people for 'public indecency' and two people for homosexuality, after several homosexual couples took to the streets and began to display affection publicly as an act of protest.
The shocking scenes are considered completely unusual coming from Alizeria, a normally peaceful country where people rarely lock their doors and where crime and violence are all but totally unheard of.
King Nikolas II released a public statement from Palatine Palace - which is itself being closely guarded by members of the Armed Forces - condemning the violence.
"This is Alizeria, and Alizeria is a peaceful Kingdom," He said. "Violence in all its forms, for whatever reason, is not acceptable."
Fran Baldwin, the MP whose bill is considered the source of the controversy, was not available for comment, nor was Prime Minister Anthony Ashton whose office released a brief statement calling for calm and condemning the violence.
Father Gordon O'Hare - whose group 'The Family Values Institute' was responsible for the petition against the bill - also condemned the clashes but commented that it showed that most Alizerians did not want homosexuality to be legalised.
"We got one million signatures. One million people can't possibly be wrong." He said.
While the bill is soon due for a second reading in the House of Peasants, the House of Nobles has already voted that it will support it should the lower house pass it.
"A lot of members of the Alizerian upper class are actually in the closet," Said the Earl of Centerbury. "I mean look at how we dress. And listen to how we talk. It should be obvious! My wife has secretly been a man wearing a wig for the last 40 years."
Unsurprisingly the House of Clergy voted almost unanimously against it, however Alizeria's tricameral system only requires the approval of two of the three chambers of Parliament for a bill to be presented to the King. If the House of Peasants approves it, then the King is considered likely to sign it into law.
While the future of the bill is at this stage unknown, there is no doubt that it has proved the single most divisive issue in Alizeria for a generation, and seriously threatens to tear the small country apart.
- ADH
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