In Moscow, Russia, gay-rights activists had planned to hold a pride parade this past weekend—but the police had other plans.
Officers arrested dozens of activists and detained them May 16, according to a CNN.com item. Among those arrested were Nikolai Alexeyev, a prominent Russian gay activist, and associate Nikolai Bayev, as well as British human-rights activist Peter Tatchell. ( Alexeyev appeared in Chicago in October 2007 to speak at the annual Matthew Shepard rally. )
Andy Thayer, an activist with Chicago's Gay Liberation Network ( GLN ) , was in Moscow during the developments. He was also detained, according to an item from the Press Association.
According to a press release issued by GLN, Thayer spoke to the international press before his arrest, saying, "If democracy [ and ] the right to assemble [ are ] taken away from lesbian and gay people here in Russia, then other Russians have to fear for their own freedom. I'm with the Gay Liberation Network in Chicago, and I'm proud to be here, part of this demonstration." Immediately after stating that sentence, Thayer was taken into police custody.
However, Thayer and the other advocates were released May 17. ( He returned to Chicago the night of May 18. ) According to a letter he sent to family and friends that same day, he stated, "Yesterday I was taken into Russian custody without injury for several hours but then released without charges. ... Some of my Russian friends have not been so lucky. As of this writing, we know of no serious physical injuries to them, but as some of you may have seen on news coverage of the action, at the very start of our non-violent protest we were violently attacked by the Russian OMOH cops ( their equivalent of SWAT police ) .
"Nikolai Alekseev, Moscow Pride's foremost leader who also faced a battery of charges, was just released 40 minutes ago and is en route to the flat where I'm staying at tonight."
Organizers had made plans to rally at the city's Novopushkinsky Park, CNN.com reported. The arrests occurred the day of the Eurovision Song Contest, which has a huge following among the LGBT community.
