Moscow Pride to go ahead despite ban
Gay rights campaigners say they will hold Moscow Pride regardless of a ban.
Activists applied to hold the event in Bolotnaya Ploshchad city park on Saturday but Mayor Sergei Sobyanin’s administration turned down the request, citing a risk of public disorder.
This is the sixth year in a row that city authorities have banned the event. While campaigners have flouted past bans, some marches ended in violence and allegations of police brutality.
Last October, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that bans on Moscow Pride contravene international human rights laws.
Pride organiser Nikolai Alekseev said he had approached other countries for support.
He said: “In past years, foreign diplomats always told us that they cannot express support for Moscow Gay Pride due to the absence of a European Court of Human Rights decision in our favour. This year, we have the European Court ruling on our side, so we hope they will publicly defend out right to march and send observers.”
He said: “The excuses for banning Moscow Gay Pride - given by the deputy mayor of Moscow, Ludmila Shvetsova - include ‘the impossibility to provide security,’ the risk of traffic disruption, the large number of letters received in protest against the Pride events and Russia’s international obligation to protect the rights of children because Gay Pride ‘may impact psychological health and inflict moral damage on children and teenagers who were to become unwilling witnesses of the event.’
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Read the entire article over at Pink News
Activists applied to hold the event in Bolotnaya Ploshchad city park on Saturday but Mayor Sergei Sobyanin’s administration turned down the request, citing a risk of public disorder.
This is the sixth year in a row that city authorities have banned the event. While campaigners have flouted past bans, some marches ended in violence and allegations of police brutality.
Last October, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that bans on Moscow Pride contravene international human rights laws.
Pride organiser Nikolai Alekseev said he had approached other countries for support.
He said: “In past years, foreign diplomats always told us that they cannot express support for Moscow Gay Pride due to the absence of a European Court of Human Rights decision in our favour. This year, we have the European Court ruling on our side, so we hope they will publicly defend out right to march and send observers.”
He said: “The excuses for banning Moscow Gay Pride - given by the deputy mayor of Moscow, Ludmila Shvetsova - include ‘the impossibility to provide security,’ the risk of traffic disruption, the large number of letters received in protest against the Pride events and Russia’s international obligation to protect the rights of children because Gay Pride ‘may impact psychological health and inflict moral damage on children and teenagers who were to become unwilling witnesses of the event.’
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Read the entire article over at Pink News