モスクワ・プライド：モスクワでロシア初のゲイパレード中に１２０人拘束

Moscow Times
Monday, May 29, 2006. Page 1.
Gay March Overwhelmed by Violent Protests
By Anastasiya Lebedev
Staff Writer

Mikhail Metzel / AP
Ultranationalists protesting the march, which drew about 100 activists, near the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

Activists attempting to hold the city's first-ever gay rights march Saturday were overwhelmed by militant Orthodox Christians and ultranationalists throwing smoke bombs.

A handful of activists were injured, including a German lawmaker. The Bundestag member, his face streaked with blood, was detained by police.

Pedestrian movement was blocked for a few hours as riot police cordoned off the square around the monument to Prince Yury Dolgoruky. And traffic on Tverskaya Ulitsa was briefly stopped when smoke bombs -- resembling flares and emitting large plumes of smoke -- were thrown at the intersection at the base of the street, across from the Kremlin.

More than 100 gay rights activists and some of their most vocal foes were arrested by police. Mayor Yury Luzhkov had banned the parade, and on Friday a city court upheld the ban.

Among the first to be arrested were Nikolai Alexeyev, the march's chief organizer, and Philippe Lasnier, an aide to the mayor of Paris. Alexeyev spent the day in custody; Lasnier was briefly detained.

Alexeyev said Sunday that the event had been a great success, despite the low turnout. "A hundred people were not afraid to go out and protest homophobia and fascism," he said.

One French observer at Saturday's event said police had detained the German lawmaker, Green Party member Volker Beck, to prevent him from being further pummeled.

Several hundred ultranationalists descended on central Moscow to protest the march. Some of them wore camouflage. Others sported facemasks or hid their faces in their shirt collars.

Organizers had hoped the parade would be the capstone of a two-day conference bringing together gays and lesbians from Russia, Europe and the United States.

The conference, called Moscow Pride '06, was described as disorganized by gay web sites not affiliated with the event, which included a lecture given by Merlin Holland, grandson of Oscar Wilde. The British author, widely known to have been gay, was convicted of gross indecency in 1895 and sentenced to two years of hard labor.

Organizers of Saturday's march had called for gays and lesbians to lay flowers at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, and then walk up Tverskaya and gather at the monument to Prince Yury Dolgoruky, which faces City Hall, to picket the ban. The time and place of the march were announced just hours before the event.

But police blocked the entrance to the Alexander Gardens, where the tomb is located.

When the marchers arrived at the gated entranceway to the garden, they were met by women holding icons and wearing long skirts and headscarves. A small group of men in Cossack dress was on hand to protest the march, among others.

Sergey Ponomarev / AP
A police officer escorting Alexeyev from the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

As the activists laid their flowers at the gate, protesters stomped on them and threw eggs and tomatoes at the activists. And as the protesters' chants -- "Death to fags!" and "Fags out of Russia!" -- grew louder, and as the tenor of the confrontation grew uglier, OMON riot police formed a chain to pry the crowd away from the gate.

The icon-bearing women added to the chorus, chanting "Moscow is not Sodom." Many sang psalms, mostly from the traditional Easter service.

One woman protesting the march accused police officers who were attempting to contain the mob of siding with homosexuals, prompting one officer to point to the cross around his neck.

Conference participants, most of them foreigners, observed the goings-on with concern and confusion. A couple stood under rainbow-colored umbrellas. The six-color rainbow is an international gay and lesbian symbol that apparently was not recognized by protesters, who did not attack people holding the umbrellas.

After the confrontation at the entrance to the Alexander Gardens, some parade organizers began moving up Tverskaya toward the monument. The parade's protesters walked in that direction, too.

The steps of the monument had been occupied by a large swarm of ultranationalists, including Alexander Belov, head of the Movement Against Illegal Immigrants, and Konstantin Krylov, head of the Russian Public Movement.

State Duma Deputy Nikolai Kuryanovich, of the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party, in a speech at the foot of the monument lashed out at the "gay mafia" for promoting ideals he called suited for "rotting America and dying Europe."

Kuryanovich also recalled that homosexuality was once a crime in Russia and defended the neo-Nazi salute. He then led the crowd in a chant of "Gays and lesbians to Kolyma," the notorious Soviet-era labor camp.

Riot police tried to block more people from gathering near the monument but did not make an attempt to interrupt Kuryanovich's speech.

Kuryanovich's web site offers condolences to the family and friends of Dmitry Borovikov, a founder of a violent extremist group killed by police in St. Petersburg earlier this month while resisting arrest.

A few gay rights activists eventually arrived at the monument but were unable to hold their rally.

Yevgenia Debryanskaya, a leader of the lesbian rights movement in Russia since the 1990s, tried to give a speech but was doused with water as protesters laughed at her. She was dragged away by police.

Alexeyev said participation would have been greater if the event had been permitted by authorities.

Organizers did not want to put a large number of people at risk by inviting them to take part, he said, so no notices were posted on gay-themed web sites and no mass mailings were conducted.

Beck, the German legislator, said he had hoped his presence and that of European Parliament member Sophie int Veld would force authorities to provide participants with protection.

On Friday, the Council of Europe issued a statement telling gay rights activists in Moscow that the council supported their struggle against homophobia and calling on local authorities to protect marchers.

Other gay rights activists present Saturday included Eduard Murzin, a deputy in Bashkortostan's regional legislature who tried unsuccessfully to register a gay marriage last year, and Paris Vice Mayor Clementine Autain. Murzin is straight.

A number of activists had opposed the parade and labeled Alexeyev a self-promoter who sought to use the event to build his own reputation at home and abroad.

Monday, May 29, 2006. Page 2.
Bigots Not Discriminating About Their Targets
By Anastasiya Lebedev
Staff Writer

Mikhail Metzel / AP
Beck standing with his face bleeding after being attacked by nationalists.

One of the victims of the violence that broke out at Saturday's aborted gay rights march had the misfortune of simply being the wrong color.

While walking down Tverskaya Ulitsa with a female companion, the dark-skinned man, who did not give his name, was attacked by ultranationalists looking for prey.

As he was overtaken by some of the mob, the man was knocked to the ground and punched and kicked. The young woman, a Russian, tried to shield him with her body.

An onlooker tried to tear away one of the attackers, and five or six of the assailants fled just before police officers arrived, ushering the man and woman, both in their twenties, into a squad car. None of the thugs who had attacked the man were detained.

What became clear at the march Saturday was that the ultranationalists, Orthodox Church protesters and other opponents of gay rights were not only fighting gay rights -- they were protesting anything they deemed un-Russian. Whether it was South Asians or Westerners or anyone who collided with their nostalgia for a closed, imperial Russia, everyone on "the outside" was a potential target.

One young man who only gave his first name, Alexei, happily admitted that he had taken part in the beating of a German lawmaker, Volker Beck.

"I punched him in the face myself because I'm a normal Russian guy," Alexei said, grinning.

Using a widespread Russian expression, Alexei said he and others came to protest the march to "combine the pleasant things with the useful things" -- hanging out with his friends while physically beating people he considers perverts.

Kirill Frolov, head of the Moscow chapter of the Orthodox Citizens' Union, passed out flyers to passersby saying that European officials involved in the march were seeking to instigate an Orange Revolution-style overthrow of the government in Russia. The flyers also said that the bird flu sweeping the globe was God's punishment for homosexuality.

Frolov added that the union had worked closely with law enforcement agencies.

Alexei Gozhgo, 19, marched with the Cossacks, who, he said, came from the Tula region. He said he opposed gays and lesbians because they would not do anything to boost Russia's shrinking population.

Not far away, on Tverskaya Ulitsa, two women holding hands voiced support for the display of gay solidarity.

"This is a necessary and effective action," one of the women, Yekaterina Shavyrina, said. "We're also a part of society."



Men in angel costumes pose during the traditional 'Gays and Lesbians Pride' rally in central Brussels May 27, 2006. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
Reuters - May 27 10:00 AM
(この写真は、下記サンケイスポーツにも掲載)ゲイの天使が幸せそうに抱擁。手はしっかり…。モスクワとは対照的に和気あいあいのベルギー・ブリュッセルのゲイパレード＝２７日（ロイター）

Men take part in the traditional 'Gays and Lesbians Pride' rally in central Brussels May 27, 2006. REUTERS/Francois Lenoir
Reuters - May 27 9:27 AM

モスクワでロシア初のゲイパレード中に１２０人拘束 (サンケイスポーツ 2006/05/29)


ロシア初のゲイパレードが２７日（日本時間２８日）、モスクワで行われ、市から不許可とされても強行したゲイ活動家らをネオナチ軍団が襲撃。パレードを遠巻きに警戒していた警官隊がここぞとばかりに突入し、約１２０人を拘束した。言論統制や企業国営化などプーチン大統領の強権化に批判が集まる中での人権弾圧に、またも批判が強まりそうだ。

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同性愛者の権利擁護を訴える露初のゲイパレードはモスクワで開催。露だけでなく欧米のゲイ活動家らも駆け付けて計約２００人が集合した。

うち数十人がクレムリン脇の第２次大戦の「無名戦士の墓」に献花しようと移動を始めたところ、ネオナチら極右勢力が襲いかかった。

短髪やスキンヘッドに黒系の服装という一見ハードゲイの軍団は、活動家らに発炎筒やタマゴを投げ付け、さらにエルボースマッシュや顔面パンチを繰り出し、流血の惨事にハッテン。

ここぞとばかりに警官隊が突入、活動家らを続々と拘束。インタファクス通信によると、ネオナチらも含め拘束されたのは約１２０人に上った。

露は１９９３年５月２７日、ようやく同性愛を合法化。だが実際はイスラム圏など８０以上の“ゲイご法度国家”同様、まだまだ差別が激しい。厳しい環境下でも、大都市では新宿２丁目のような派手なゲイバーやクラブが営業。今回のパレードはこの“記念日”に合わせ、主催者がモスクワ市に事前申請。しかし市側は「反社会的行為」と不許可に。抗議と同時に「ゲイコミュニティーが社会の脅威ではないことを示すため」（主催者）に決行した。

先月末には、事前集会を兼ねたゲイイベントが市内のクラブで行われ、ネオナチやロシア正教会信者ら反対派約１５０人が押し寄せ、機動隊が出動する騒ぎに。ネオナチらはトマトなどを投げつけ「変態は出ていけ」などと罵倒、「パレードを行えば襲撃する」と予告していた。

２７日の騒動で、警官隊は極右勢力のスピーチを黙認しながら、ゲイ活動家がひとたび主張を始めると拘束する場面も。ある活動家は「警官がネオナチらをけしかけていた」といい、英国人活動家は「平和なパレードがファシストや警官によって鎮圧された。ロシアの恥だ」と批判した。

この日はベルギーでもゲイパレードが行われたが、こちらは対照的に和気あいあいの雰囲気。

パレードを不許可にしたルシコフ・モスクワ市長は同性愛差別主義で知られ、国際人権監視・擁護団体が今月、ゲイに差別的な公人「恥の殿堂」に加えたほど。プーチン大統領の与党「統一ロシア」の結党に尽力した実力者でもある。

マスコミへの圧力を強めると同時に、石油・天然ガスやチタンなど戦略物資の国営化など強権化を着々と進めるプーチン政権。ゲイへの強権姿勢を続け、まるでソ連時代に逆戻りの様相だ。

★露での外国人襲撃今年１００件超

サッカーＷ杯を間近に控えた独では、警備強化にもかかわらずネオナチらによる外国人襲撃が急増。２５日にはベルリンでモザンビーク人男性ら５人が襲われて負傷した。同国内のネオナチは昨年時点で前年比３００人増の４１００人。スキンヘッドは民族主義の象徴として欧州で増大。全世界で総数１２万人といわれ、露は推定５万人と世界最多。露での外国人襲撃は今年に入ってすでに１００件以上起きており、国際的人権団体アムネスティ・インターナショナルは「警察当局が真剣に対策を講じていない」と警鐘を鳴らした。


DIRELAND - MOSCOW POLICE ARREST GAY PRIDE LEADER AND 50-100 OTHERS TODAY AT BANNED MARCH