By IRINA TITOVA (AP) - June 26, 2010
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia --- Russian police on Saturday detained several gay rights activists in a public courtyard within St. Petersburg's noted State Hermitage Museum, apparently for holding an unsanctioned rally.
Two dozens activists unfurled banners and chanted "Homophobia the shame of the country" and "Marriage rights without compromises" before police moved in and seizing six people, who offered little resistance.
The rally was not announced in advance, but media were tipped off. Gay rights in Russia are poorly observed, with police often violently dispersing demonstrators and allowing attacks on them to go unpunished.
"This is outrageous that police stopped us and they didn't give us a chance to speak about the violation of our rights," said Nikolai Alexeyev, the leader of Russia's beleaguered gay rights movement, after the rally.
The rally in the courtyard known as the Hermitage Garden was not well-received by visitors to the museum, one of the world's oldest that was founded in 1764 by Catherine the Great.
"Everyone has the right to protect his rights if there is any violation by the state," said Igor Bazilyevsky, 28, an office manager. "At the same time there are other groups whose rights are violated, for instance Armenians or Jews, but they don't go to such rallies."
Another visitor, an accountant who would only give her first name, Natalya, said: "I don't want to see these people here. I came here to see the sights, not to look at these idiots."
Expressing disgust for homosexuality is widely accepted in Russian society, undermining Russian President Dmitry Medvedev's frequent claims that the country shares European values.
Gay rights activists in May held two parades in Moscow that they say only passed off peacefully because of "military planning," giving the police the slip. Moscow's Mayor Yury Luzhkov has famously equated gays with the devil.
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