Russian police on Saturday detained
more than 40 people at a gay rights rally in downtown Moscow.
Organizers of the Equality March said
the event was against the discrimination of all minorities in Russia.
The notice of protest filed with the city did not mention gay,
lesbian, bisexual or transgender, GayRussia.eu
reported.
Moscow officials have previously
refused to sanction gay rights events, quickly shutting down
unauthorized gay pride marches. Anti-gay sentiment in Russia remains
high.
At the rally, protesters penned inside
a metal fence were pelted with tomatoes. Counter-protesters standing
outside the fence unfurled posters with any-gay slurs. In video of
the rally taken by the AP, a woman is heard saying, “People like
you should all get shot!” according to one translation. (The video
is embedded in the right panel of this page.)
Police were “finding out whether (the
detained) were part of the rally or the people who tried to thwart
it,” Moscow police spokesman Anatoly Lastovetsky told the AP.
In one photograph published by
Ridus.ru, a man holding a rainbow flag, a symbol of gay pride, is
seen being carted away by police.
Other reports suggest the majority of
the detained were counter-protesters.