Around 30 international gay rights activists held a brief protest on a central Moscow street Saturday, flouting the city authorities' ban on a gay pride event in a "cat and mouse game" with police.
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 gay activists managed to hold a peaceful demonstration after attempts over the last five years were marred by violence and arrests.
"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."
A single police car arrived ten minutes after the protest ended and no-one was arrested.
Organisers had changed the location at the last minute and bussed reporters on a twisting two-hour route to evade a heavy police presence in central Moscow.
In a diversion tactic, Alexeyev on Wednesday told journalists the protest would be held outside the European Commission's office in central Moscow. Police and riot police gathered at the announced location, organisers said.
French campaigner Louis-Georges Tin, who established the International Day against Homophobia, called the protest "a game of cat-and-mouse."
"A rapid protest like this is the best way to both affirm our freedom and protect our security," Tin told AFP.
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 such parades "Satanic" and argued that Russia is not ready for them.
This year, the city again refused the activists' application to hold a gay pride event. Moscow courts upheld the ban and rejected an appeal.
Tatchell and Volk attended Saturday's protest despite suffering injuries when they were beaten by anti-gay counter-demonstrators in Moscow in 2007.
"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."
Tatchell branded Luzhkov a "lawbreaker" for refusing permission for the protest.
"He has banned a protest which is legal under Russia's constitution," Tatchell said. "The only people who are criminals are not these gay rights protesters but the mayor of Moscow and the judges who banned this protest."
In a report published Friday, Russia's human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin slammed the Moscow authorities for refusing to sanction demonstrations on "often absurd" pretexts.
In the case of the gay pride event, Luzhkov turned down the activists' application to hold protests without offering an alternative location, despite the right to public assembly being enshrined in the Russian Constitution.
Earlier Saturday, a separate group of protesters led by left-wing activist Igor Yasin held a demonstration in support of gay rights on Stary Arbat street in central Moscow.
The protesters, who did not apply for permission from city authorities, also carried a rainbow flag and placards reading "Gays for equality without compromises" before running away from police, Gazeta.ru web site reported.
Copyright 2010 AFP Global Edition
