Moscow gay-pride
parade blocked by protesters, police

Moscow's first-ever gay-pride parade was thwarted on Saturday when marchers were attacked by antigay protesters and detained by police. Parade organizers were denied an official permit to hold the event but went ahead anyway, attempting to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the Associated Press reports. There they were set upon by some 100 religious zealots and nationalists who, according to the AP, kicked and punched the marchers. After police closed the entrance to the tomb area, they broke up the fracas, arresting 120 people on both sides, including Nikolai Alexeyev, the parade's main organizer. "We are conducting a peaceful action," Alexeyev had said earlier at a news conference, reports the AP. "We want to show that we have the same rights as other citizens." On a radio program Friday, Moscow mayor Yuri Luzhkov said that gay-pride parades "may be acceptable for some kind of progressive, in some sense, countries in the West, but it is absolutely unacceptable for Moscow, for Russia." He added: "As long as I am mayor, we will not permit these parades." Saturday was the 13th anniversary of the decriminalization of homosexuality in Russia. (The Advocate)