Anastasia Smirnova, the general project manager of the Interregional Social Movement Russian LGBT Network, reported on Russian queer newsgroups that two masked men with guns and baseball bats attacked a "rainbow social" at the offices of LaSky, an HIV organization for gay men, just over an hour ago. The police reportedly arrived at the LaSky office but left immediately saying they saw no evidence of a crime. Two guests were hospitalized. LGBT activists and lawyers from several LGBT organizations in St Petersburg are working on the incident.
"Pogroms are becoming a reality," says Smirnova. "Now it is not migrants, but the St Petersburg office of LaSky.
More news to follow as we get reports out of St. Petersburg.
UPDATE 12:50 p.m. PST: Reports from the Facebook page of author Sarah Schulmen, who is in St. Petersburg this week meeting with LGBT groups and showing her new film United in Anger: A History of ACT UP, confirms that there are two victims. According to Russian activist, Maria Markina, "One guy was shot in the eye. The bullet is still there. Doctors are not sure that they can save his eye."
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