*NEWSBITES
MOSCOW – Already in trouble with Russian authorities for their recent “punk prayer service” in a Moscow cathedral, feminist rock band Pussy Riot has now gotten some of its fans in hot water as well.
More than 10 of the band’s fans were arrested Thursday during a gathering in front of the Moscow courthouse. Pussy Riot fans arrived at approximately 1 p.m. for what they called a “Judicial Festival,” an event organized to protest Pussy Riot’s continued incarceration. The arrests took place about an hour later.
Pussy Riot’s band members have been locked up since Feb. 18 – two weeks before Russia’s presidential election – when they led a controversial “service” in Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior. During the event, the women sang a tune called “Dear God, Chase Out Putin” while wearing colorful masks, dancing and bending over in faux-prayer. Neither the police nor the Orthodox Church appreciated the punk group’s feigned religious fervor. They are now facing “hooliganism” charges.
The group’s supporters arrived at the courthouse with balloons and homemade signs. But they were not alone. Activists from the Orthodox Church were already on the stairs, accompanied by law-and-order hardliners who attacked a group of six Pussy Riot fans. The police arrested anyone who tried to display any kind of sign.
Read the full article in Russian by Grigorii Tumanov
Photo – Igor Mukhin
*Newsbites are digest items, not direct translations
