Animal rights activists protest Rolling Stones gig
The Rolling Stones' will rock Belgrade this summer even if their planned performance at the city's main racetrack stresses hundreds of horses stabled at the venue and means some need to be tranquillised, concert organisers admitted today.
Animal rights group Orca warned against "inevitable stress that the animals would suffer" from the noise, or from diazepam, the substance already used in the past to sedate the animals during concerts.
Many animal rights activists are also Stones' fans who "also eagerly await the concert", Orca said, but called for a change of venue.
"Preparations for the July 14 concert are going smoothly, there are no problems," Dejan Maksimovic, a director of Music Star Productions, said, shrugging off concerns from the animal rights group.
Officials of the Hippodrome racecourse acknowledged that some of the finest - and skittish - animals among the few hundred horses may be given tranquillisers when the Stone's unleash their stadium-rocking decibels.
"But we've done that before, this is not the first rock concert at the Hippodrome," said Natasa Pavlovic of the state-run racecourse, adding that an arrangement with the concert organisers is nearly finalised. She did not disclose financial details.
More than 80,000 tickets are being sold for the concert as Serbs hope to finally see the legendary rock band after at least two previous attempts to bring them to the country failed.
In 2003, a nearly arranged concert in Belgrade was cancelled after Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic was assassinated. In 2006, plans were scrapped after Keith Richards fell from a coconut tree, sustaining a head injury.
Now, finally, the tickets are being sold for the event which is bound to bring together many generations of fans.
"It's a really big thing for us," said ageing rock fan Dimitrije Stevanovic, 58. "I know I'll get all tearful when Jagger shows up on stage and says 'Good evening, Belgrade'."
