According to media reports, Russian police have raided several gay bars and nightclubs in Moscow. In addition, a sauna that was only accessible to men was searched, various Russian media reported on Saturday.
The apparently coordinated raids took place shortly after the international LGBT movement was banned by the Russian judiciary.
“In the middle of the party”
Video footage showed police officers in front of a nightclub popular with homosexuals where a large dance party was taking place. “The music stopped in the middle of the party,” an eyewitness told Ostoroshno Novosti. The police then took photos of the guests’ IDs.
Late Friday night, one of the city’s oldest gay clubs in St. Petersburg announced it would close. In justification, the “Hauptbahnhof” referred to a ruling of the Supreme Court from the previous day.
LGBT ban
Russia’s Supreme Court on Thursday issued a ban on the “international LGBT movement” for “extremism” and banned its activities on Russian territory. The English abbreviation LGBT stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender.
The ruling took effect immediately. However, the Supreme Court initially did not provide information on whether its ruling applied to specific people or organizations in Russia. This meant that the exact effects initially remained unclear. In Russia, ‘extremism’ carries long prison sentences.
Source: Krone
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