Sun 17 May 2009 In: International News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Around twenty gay Slavic Pride protesters marching in central Moscow have been arrested by 'violent and oppressive' riot police. Moscow: A gay equality protester is led away (AP Photo/Mikhail Metzel) Well-known UK gay equality activist Peter Tatchell was among those detained. He texted: "Well that didn't take long. Within 5mn 20 activists arrested by riot police in front of world's media, including [protest] organiser Nikolai Alekseev." Many of the protestors, including Tatchell, have now been released. The group had been waving flags and chanting slogans demanding equality and condemning the treatment of gays and lesbians in Russia, reports the BBC. The protest was timed to coincide with Moscow's Eurovision Contest final, which traditionally has a large gay following and will attract millions of eyes from around the world watching the music competition in the city. Notoriously homophobic Moscow mayor Yuri Luzkhov has described gay parades as "satanic" and has blocked several attempts by Moscow's LGBT community to stage parades and pride events. A Russia TV News report on the protest and arrests is shown below.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News Staff
First published: Sunday, 17th May 2009 - 9:23am