Around 30 international gay rights activists held a brief protest on a central Moscow street, flouting the city authorities' ban on a gay pride event, an AFP journalist witnessed.
The activists, led by Russian Nikolai Alexeyev and also including British campaigner Peter Tatchell and German MP Volker Beck, ran along Leningradsky Prospekt in central Moscow with a huge rainbow flag.
Activists carried placards saying "Rights for gays" and shouted slogans such as "Russia without homophobes" and "Homophobia is a disease."
The brief protest, lasting less than five minutes, was the first time that the gay activists have managed to hold a peaceful demonstration after attempts over the last five years were marred by violence and arrests.
Organisers changed the location at the last minute to evade a heavy police presence in central Moscow.
A single police car arrived ten minutes after the protest ended and no-one was arrested.
"We want to show that the peaceful march of gays and lesbians in this city is possible," Alexeyev told AFP after the protest. "You saw we didn't disrupt any traffic, we didn't disrupt any rights of other citizens."
"Unfortunately we are obliged to do some kind of military operation to make sure that this event takes place"
Moscow city authorities, led by openly homophobic mayor Yury Luzhkov, have repeatedly refused permission for gay pride parades and riot police have broken up attempts to hold unsanctioned events.
Luzhkov has called gay pride parades "Satanic" and argued that Russia is not ready for such events.
This year, the city refused the activists' application to hold a gay pride event and a Moscow court upheld the ban.
Tatchell and Volk attended Saturday's protest despite suffering injuries in 2007 when they were beaten by anti-gay counter-demonstrators during an attempted gay pride event in Moscow.
"We've succeeded in outwitting the police and thwarting Mayor Luzhkov's ban," Tatchell told AFP. "He said this protest would never take place -- it has."
Copyright 2010 AFP Global Edition
