Romanian newspapers on Monday reopen the debate on the fate and life of homosexuals in the country after violence marked a gay demonstration in Bucharest on Saturday. Political charts, H5N1 findings and World Cup previews complete the front pages today.

A set of security rules handed to gay marchers Saturday morning was proven useful for them from the very beginning as the 500 demonstrators hade to face a lot of pressure during their demonstration. The sense of insecurity was guaranteed with all the armored vehicles and water cannons of the Romanian gendarmerie along their route.

But it was completed by the wrath of anti-gay protesters summoned to the streets by populist politician Gigi Becali, far-right moment “the New Right” and the Orthodox Church, as Evenimentul Zilei reports.

“Tolerance drew a separation line between the state and the curch”, the newspaper reports. And it quotes analyst Cristian Parvulescu who says the hundreds of anti-gay protesters do not represent Romania as a whole, as the Romanian society opted to stay indifferent than show hostility towards the gay marchers.

And sources quoted by Evenimentul Zilei insist the intolerance comes mainly from the lack of understanding for the different ones and the supremacy of dogmatic education in Orthodox Romania.

According to Cotidianul, the situation was ridiculous from the very beginning: while the gay community opted for a carnival to claim their rights, their manifestation was either a circurs, or a source of danger for passers-by in Bucharest.

And the newspaper reports that the anti-gay demonstration also organized on Saturday, the appeals for calm overlapped with extreme Christian speeches and apocalyptical theories about the homosexuals.

Meanwhile, Jurnalul National reports that despite the low number of participants in both – gay and anti-gay – marches, the Saturday events left temporary scars on the city and on several people.

Several people were beaten after the demonstration, while by the end of the day the whole route of the homosexual march was littered with dirt: piles of horse poo from the mounted police that had accompanied the colorful demonstrators.

The worst of the event, as Gandul suggest, was that several high-profile military and politicians, including representatives of the junior governmental member the Conservative Party, have welcomed the New Right anti-gay protest. And it comes in the first large-scale event organized by the far-right group since its creation.

Elsewhere in the newspapers, Evenimentul Zilei reports the partial results of a media project that tries to see what real-life characters its readers see as worst for the history of the country.

Ex-president Ion Iliescu leads the “black list”, defeating even ex-dictator Nicolae Ceausescu, followed by a series of present-day or defunct political and business leaders.

Among them – populist politician Gigi Becali, businessman Sorin Ovidiu Vantu, ex-PM Adrian Nastase, former Communist leaders Gh. Gheorghiu-Dej and Petru Groza as well as WWII military leader Ion Antonescu.

Cotidianul opts to focus on the preparations of Romanians for the coming World Cup, despite the country would not take part in the sports event of the year.

The newspaper shows that by missing the participation in the World Cup again and again, the Romanian Football Federation is losing not only the fame of Romanian football, but also the fortunes involved in such a large-scale event.

It is the third World Cup that Romanians will see on TV – except for some 500 people expected to witness live the events in Germany, Cotidianul points out.

But that doesn’t stop some enterprisers to try and make some profit by making World Cup bags, beer glasses and T-shirts for the organizers of the Cup in Germany, according to the newspaper.

Gandul is one of the very few newspapers remembering the country is still confronting a bird flu crisis. The newspaper quotes a report of the Food and Agriculture Organization that says the spread of the H5N1 virus in Romania should not be blamed on migratory birds, but on human activities.

It may be possible that wild birds bring the disease in unaffected areas in areas where it was already identified, but the disease is spreading due to poultry farming, improper hygiene and uncontrolled trade, the report says.