Moscow Pride - Moscow Pride 2008

Moscow Pride 2008

Organizers applied for five marches in different locations per every day in May, but Moscow Mayor banned all the 155 events saying that "they will endanger public order and cause negative reaction of the majority of the population". President of Russia, Dmitry Medvedev, phoned the Prefecture of the Central Administrative area of Moscow and told him to authorise the gay demonstration, nevertheless, authorization was refused. Organizers introduced the ban of all marches to the European Court of Human Rights after they lost in Russian courts. The event took place on Sunday June,1 in two locations : First, a flashmob protest which gathered around thirty LGBT activists led by Nikolai Alekseev in front of the Statue of famous Russian music composer Tchaikovsky and second they unveiled a banner quoting "Rights to Gays and Lesbians. Homophobia of Mayor Luzhkov should be prosecuted" from the third floor of a building in front of the Moscow City Hall. The trick of the activists worked. While they were able to have their flashmob protest without being assaulted or arrested in a different location, they symbolically made their protest in front of the City Hall and avoid clashes with protesters as they were not on the ground.