News
2007-06-28
Moscow police
detain gay activists
Moscow police
blocked gay rights activists from holding a demonstration
in the capital Wednesday and detained two of them despite
the pro
Moscow police
blocked gay rights activists from holding a demonstration
in the capital Wednesday and detained two of them despite
the protest being authorized by city authorities.
The approximately
two dozen activists aimed to hold the rally outside the
European Union's representative office in Moscow to demand
that the E.U. impose a visa ban on Mayor Yuri Luzhkov,
who has banned gay rights parades and called
homosexuality ''satanic.''
Although the
planned demonstration had been sanctioned, police said they
decided to block it because it would interfere with
construction taking place nearby.
''Authorities in
Moscow have broken the law again by not allowing our
picket,'' said activist Alexey Davydov.
Demonstrators
tried to unfurl a banner, but police dispersed them,
grabbing Davydov and another demonstrator and forcing them
into a police bus.
A group of gay
rights opponents stood nearby, but did not interfere.
''There must be
no propaganda of sexual perversions in Russia, especially
if it is Western-funded,'' said Mikhail Sinitsyn, leader of
the nationalistic People's Union youth movement.
Russia
decriminalized homosexuality in 1993, but opposition to gay
rights remains strong and frequently turns violent.
In May police
detained gay rights activists, including two European
lawmakers, as they tried to hold a demonstration in downtown
Moscow while members of a hostile crowd punched the
activists and pelted them with eggs.
Homosexuality is
denounced by the dominant Russian Orthodox Church, and
President Vladimir Putin, during his annual news conference,
implied gays were undermining the country by not
having children. (AP)
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