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Gay activists detained at rally against Moscow mayor

by reuters | Thomson Reuters Foundation
Tuesday, 21 September 2010 16:14 GMT

* At least 8 gay rights activists detained

* Protest comes as Kremlin battles Moscow mayor

By Conor Humphries

MOSCOW, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Police broke up a small protest on Tuesday and detained at least eight gay rights activists calling for the resignation of Moscow's mayor, who is locked in a battle with the Kremlin over his job after 18 years in office.

The rally was timed to mark the 74th birthday of conservative mayor Yuri Luzhkov, a long-time foe of gay rights activists who have been beaten by police while trying to demonstrate in Russia's capital in previous years.

This time, the standoff came as the Kremlin is pressing Luzhkov to resign as mayor of Russia's economic powerhouse in an increasingly public struggle that is testing President Dmitry Medvedev ahead of national elections in 2011 and 2012.

More than 100 police outnumbered a handful of gay rights activists who turned up on a square opposite the headquarters of Luzhkov, who left on holiday over the weekend to celebrate his birthday in Austria.

Dozens of officers in bulletproof vests descended on four activists who had cuffed themselves to a metal barricade and led them to buses. Police were rougher with four others including Nikolai Alexeyev, Russia's most prominent gay rights activist.

Officers half-dragged, half-carried Alexeyev to the bus and also detained organiser Alexei Davydov, seizing the rainbow-coloured flag he held and escorting him away as he shouted, "Luzhkov is a homo, Happy Birthday."

The detainees chanted "Happy Birthday" in English as the bus drew away and a line of police marched down the street.

Luzhkov, mayor since 1992, has described homosexuality as "Satanic" and has sent in police to break up several gay pride marches in Moscow. There is little public support for gay rights in Russia, whose dominant church frowns on homosexuality.

EUROPEAN COURT

Alexeyev, head of the Moscow Gay Pride organisation, said activists' anger was fuelled by his detention by unidentified law-enforcement officials for three days last week in what he said was a bid to force him to cancel the demonstration.

He said he was detained at Moscow's Domodedovo Airport without explanation on Sept 14. After two hours of questioning, he said, he was put in a car and brought to the town of Kashira and then to Tula, 150 kilometres south of Moscow.

"They told me I should withdraw my claim against Moscow in the European Court of Human Rights. They continued to question me for two days," Alexeyev told Reuters.

"I don't know who it was. Maybe someone trying to please Luzhkov, or someone trying to discredit him. It was definitely linked to the fight for power in Moscow."

The struggle erupted into the open after Luzhkov targeted Medvedev with thinly veiled criticism in a newspaper article two weeks ago. Under legislation adopted during Putin's presidency, Moscow's mayor is appointed, not elected.

Luzhkov's current term expires next June, but analysts say the Kremlin wants him out earlier to give a successor time to bring in votes for the ruling United Russia party in parliamentary elections later in 2011.

Kremlin officials, speaking anonymously, have strongly hinted that Luzhkov should resign, and state-controlled television channels have aired programmes sharply criticising the mayor, who has remained defiant. Alexeyev echoed liberal politicians who have said Medvedev, still struggling to make his mark after Putin steered him into the presidency in 2008, will lose face unless he fires Luzhkov.

"If Medvedev doesn't have the courage to fire him, after all of Luzhkov's insults, he is not the Russian president," Alexeyev said.

Analysts say Medvedev and Putin would prefer a more peaceful parting with the powerful mayor of Moscow, a city of 10.5 million that accounts for nearly 20 percent of Russia's GDP.

(Additional reporting by Steve Gutterman; editing by Ralph Boulton)

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

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