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| Version 1 | Version 2 |
|---|---|
| Police break up Moscow gay march | Police break up Moscow gay march |
| (20 minutes later) | |
| Police in Russia have broken up a march by gay rights activists in Moscow, staged to coincide with the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. | Police in Russia have broken up a march by gay rights activists in Moscow, staged to coincide with the final of the Eurovision Song Contest. |
| Several dozen campaigners had gathered near a university in defiance of a ban and some were dragged away by police when they tried to shout slogans. | |
| British gay rights activist, Peter Tatchell, was among those detained. | |
| Earlier, a counter-demonstration by nationalist and religious groups was allowed to go ahead. | |
| The gay rights group had been waving flags and chanting slogans demanding equal rights and condemning the treatment of gays and lesbians in Russia. | |
| As he was being taken away by police, Mr Tatchell shouted: "This shows the Russian people are not free." | |
| 'Satanic' | |
| Another gay rights leader, Nikolai Alexeyev, was among those reported to have been arrested. | |
| The Eurovision Song Contest traditionally has a large gay following and activists in Russia had seen its staging in Moscow as a great opportunity to highlight what they say is deep prejudice, says the BBC's Moscow correspondent, Richard Galpin. | |
| There have been many attacks on members of the gay community - they also say they risk being sacked by their employers and being shunned by their families. | |
| The Moscow mayor Yuri Luzkhov has described such gay parades as "satanic". | |
| Anti-gay groups had threatened to take matters into their own hands if the police failed to stop the march. |