05/07/2008
Activists Hold ' Day of Silence' in St. Petersburg, Russia
Activists held Russia's first "Day of Silence" in St. Petersburg, Russia last Saturday, taping their mouths shut and handing out literature in the city's Chernyshevskiy Park.
UK Gay News reports: "For two hours, the participants remained silent as they took their public stand against discrimination emotional harassment, violence, hate crimes, and intolerance based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Initially, the city authorities gave permission for a demonstration. But this was overturned by ‘City Hall’ days before the event. So, organisers scaled-down their plans, and what took place was individual protest in the park – individual rallies do not require preliminary approval by the authorities. The Day of Silence is St. Petersburg finished at 2 pm with 'mass applause and cheering', symbolising that the ‘wall of silence’ would be brought down. Following the event, rally participants walked to the metro station Ploschad Vosstaniya, escorted by a militia (police) vehicle."
Watch a clip of their action, AFTER THE JUMP...
Sphere: Related ContentPosted 12:45 PM EST by Andy in News, Russia | Permalink
Like it?
Subscribe to FREE Towleroad daily headlines with our RSS feed!
RECENT STORIES:
The protest also took place in Novokuznetsk and Yaroslavl'!
The video mentions Lawrence King, then a man killed in Yekaterinburg who had the word "faggot" written on his chest in his blood, then a 19 year old girl killed in Fall 2006 because she looked like a boy.
Posted by: Kevinvt | May 8, 2008 5:22:30 AM