Moscow Police Guard Gay Protesters

Bucking trends, Moscow police protected gay protesters who showed up at the offices of Swissair on Friday and accused the airline of turning over Gay Pride organizer Nikolai Alekseev (pictured) to officials last month.

The gays of Moscow have often complained that police have not protected them from homophobic citizens, but there was a change a foot this time. Homophobic counterprotesters showed up at Swissair and some got violent, reports The Moscow News. Police, buttressed by a heavy presence of officers, arrested two of the counterprotesters.

"Sexual minorities for the first time ever were able to demonstrate while being protected by the Russian police. I think this is a historic day," Alekseev said.

Protesters say Swissair is responsible for Alekseev being denied a flight to Switzerland last month; he was subsequently detained by Russian police, and he claims they coerced him to drop a complaint against Moscow authorities.

The notoriously homophobic mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov, was fired Tuesday by the Russian president; his replacement is no gay-supporter, either.