by Rex Wockner
International News Briefs
For the fourth year in a row, riot police broke up an attempt to stage a gay pride parade in Moscow on May 16, arresting up to 80 participants, including local gay leader Nikolai Alekseev, British gay leader Peter Tatchell and Chicago gay activist Andy Thayer.
The city had again banned any public pride activities. Mayor Yuri Luzhkov has called gay pride parades "satanic" and "weapons of mass destruction."
This year's effort to march came just hours before the finals of the uebercampy Eurovision Song Contest, held in Moscow this year because Russia won it last year. The competition has a huge gay following across the Continent.
Some of the people arrested, including Tatchell and Thayer, were seized in the middle of interviews with reporters. Cameramen were knocked around as police plowed through to get at various activists. Officers managed to tear off one activist's shirt and bra. Alekseev was seized and held down by no fewer than five policemen.
As he was being hauled off, Tatchell shouted, "This shows the Russian people are not free."
"The Russian government is using this year's Eurovision in Moscow as a gala showpiece to show the world how far the country has improved since the early 1990s," Alekseev said. "However, what was witnessed this afternoon on the streets of Moscow shows the world just how little Russia has traveled when it comes to supporting fundamental human rights. … This episode has shamed the Russian government and Moscow authorities before the world."
Several cases stemming from the bans on previous Moscow pride parades are pending at the European Court of Human Rights, which has a huge backlog of cases from Russia.
Meanwhile, the day after the pride debacle, a much-less-publicized march to mark the International Day Against Homophobia went off without a hitch.
In an event called "Rainbow Flashmob," about 35 people marched from the Bolshoi Theater to Pushkin Square, distributing anti-homophobia leaflets and, at the end, releasing rainbow balloons.
"Riot police observed the event and did not detain anybody," said "Maxim G." of the Russian LGBT Network.
The network reported that similar events were staged in 40 Russian cities, with the largest in St. Petersburg, where 250 people participated.
Asked why the pride parade was broken up by police but the Rainbow Flashmob wasn't, chief pride organizer Nikolai Alekseev said: "If I go on the streets now with the balloons, no one will give a shit. As soon as it is not known to any media and police, and as soon as you don't make an official request according to the law for the demonstration, you can do what you want. No one cares, as it is not known in the society and in the media."
