Vilnius - Unknown people threw a smoke bomb inside a Vilnius nightclub where delegates to an annual gay rights conference gathered on Friday as the city banned the conference's public events. No one was injured, local media reported.
"The smoke bomb was not targeted at the conference participants, but more at the venue," said Juris Latkovskis, a spokesman for a Brussels-based gay rights organization, told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.
More than 200 people from throughout Europe were in the Lithuanian capital for the annual gay rights conference, organized by the European chapter of the International Lesbian and Gay Association (ILGA).
On Friday, less than a dozen people staged a peaceful protest against homosexuality outside the Vilnius hotel where the conference is held in the small Baltic country, which joined the European Union and NATO in 2004.
They group linked to a church with strong opposition to homosexuality, held signs saying "Lithuania is a no gay zone."
The gay rights conference organizers had planned to hoist a 30- metre rainbow flag in the Vilnius' central square, but city officials banned the event fearing for the safety of the participants. A Lithuanian court upheld the city's decision this week.
"The decision will be appealed further," Latkovskis told dpa.
The European Court of Human Rights earlier this year found Poland in violation of the human rights conventions for imposing a similar ban.
As with Poland, 79 per cent of Lithuania's 3.6 million people are members of Roman Catholic Church, which considers homosexuality a sin.
The conference ends Sunday.
