While the Eurovision Song Contest attracts millions of GLBTI viewers and is widely lauded for its camp value, this year’s host nation, Russia, has attracted GLBTI attention for all the wrong reasons.
Just hours before the Eurovision final, riot police used force to break up the Slavic Pride march, arresting between 30 and 40 people including British human rights activist, Peter Tatchell and Chicago GLBT campaigner, Andy Thayer.
The Slavic Pride march had been banned by government authorities, with Moscow mayor, Yuri Luzhkov, describing gay parades as ‘satanic’ and gays and lesbians as ‘weapons of mass destruction’.
Permission had been given, however, to a group of far-right extremists to hold anti-gay protests at the same time.
Approximately 40 people and a swarm of local and international press attended Slavic Pride, with organiser Nikolai Alekseev claiming threats of violence and fear kept people away.
Mr Alekseev was held down by five riot police before being arrested and many others claim the police used undue force.
‘The police brutality that we witnessed here this afternoon is shocking,’ he said in a statement released after the event.
‘We planned a peaceful march to highlight the dire state of LGBT rights in Russia today.
‘The police, given violent legitimacy by the openly homophobic Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, did not hold back with their weapons, despite the world’s media watching.’
According to Mr Alekseev, the Russian Government failed in its attempt to use the Eurovision Song Contest to demonstrate the country’s progress since the early 1990’s.
‘What was witnessed this afternoon on the streets of Moscow shows the world just how little Russia has travelled when it comes to supporting fundamental human rights,’ he said.
Eurovision winner, Alexander Rybak (from Norway) was quoted in Time magazine as saying, ‘Why did [the police] spend all their energy stopping gays in Moscow when the biggest gay parade was here tonight?’
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