St. Petersburg Gay Pride Proceeds; Police Arrest Five Gay Activists And Several Anti-Gay Protestors, Bulgaria Gay Pride Attracts 700; Police Presence Prevents Anti-Gay Protestors From Disrupting Event

As promised, a number of gay activists in St. Petersburg, Russia staged an unsanctioned Gay Pride protest Saturday, an estimated 30 gad advocates assembling in the inner courtyard of the famed Hermitage Museum carrying signs demanding equality and an end to homophobia. According to earlier reports, police arrived shortly thereafter and arrested five of the activists. St. Petersburg officials repeated denied permits to hold a parade, citing safety concerns, but the gay rights group were determined to hold a rally. There were threats from anti-gay extremists nationals as well, and a Saturday a contingent of the homophobic hooligans armed with truncheons arrived moments after the gay activists began to protest. They too were dispersed by police, who also arrested several. Leading Russian gay activist Nikolai Alexeyev said of the protest “It is clear that this is against the constitution. But our main task was to prevent clashes and we were successful in this.”

In Bulgaria, a strong police presence successfully prevented any of the protestors from disrupting the parade an estimated 700 participated in the 3rd Annual Sofia Pride under the watchful eyes of 300 police officers. The precise parade route was kept secret up until the last minute; a safety precaution given the continued opposition to gay right by both the Bulgarian Orthodox Church and insurgent nationalists. Early in the day an estimated 100 nationalist extremists gathered to protest the Sofia Pride gay parade, carrying signs that read “Gays Want Death For Bulgarians” and “All the Gays, Go To Uganda.” A strong, visible police presence is on hand, there to protect the parade participants, which is scheduled to begin later Saturday afternoon. Among the anti-gay protestors, Stetoslav Dimitrov, a 26 year old who handed flyers that read “Homosexuals fornicate with minors; those who are attracted by people of the same sex are from 1% to 35 of the population but commit 1/3 of all sexual crimes against children.” He offered no authenticity of the statistics and denied authorship.