Police in Russia have broken up a protest by gay rights activists in Moscow, staged to coincide with the final of the Eurovision Song Contest.
Some 30 campaigners had gathered near a university in defiance of a ban on their march and many were dragged away by police when they shouted slogans….
The Moscow mayor Yuri Luzkhov has described gay parades as “satanic”.
Anti-gay groups had threatened to take matters into their own hands if the police failed to stop the protest.
We watched OMON (Russian Special Forces) break up the protest and drag the protesters away on BBC, one of several English-language channels we get.
As you can tell, the attitude towards homosexuals in Russia isn’t exactly tolerant. I’ve seen a few lesbian couples on the street, but no gay couples. According to my guide book, St. Petersburg is more tolerant of homosexuality than other parts of Russia because it’s more European. I’m not really reading the Russian news here (I can’t, really), but I’ll let you know if I see anything in it about the protests.
Zachary Tracer 