OLYMPIC ARRESTS

Russian Police Arrest More Than A Dozen LGBT Activists

We’re getting reports from Russia that police have started arresting LGBT organizers in at least two cities. According to organizers on the ground in Russia, four have been arrested in St. Petersburg and over a dozen in Moscow.

According to The Washington Blade, police rounded up more than a dozen people who were holding rainbow flags and singing the national anthem.

Video shows a snowy nighttime scuffle in Red Square, Moscow is about a thousand miles north of Sochi.

Also according to the Blade, four organizers were arrested earlier in the day in St. Petersburg, about 400 miles north of Moscow. The Russian LGBT Network confirms that account, listing Anastasiya Smirnova and Aleksandra Semenova as among the arrested.

Reports from the St. Petersburg arrest indicate that the organizers were holding a banner reading “Discrimination is incompatible with the Olympic Movement. Principle 6. Olympic Charter.”

Smirnova reports that they’ve been charged with participation in an illegal public assembly, with a hearing scheduled for tomorrow. If they’re found guilty, the fine would be around 600 to 800 dollars.

So, that’s awesome.

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