Under strongman President Vladimir Putin, we are witnessing a creeping revival of old-style Stalinism. This is evident in the suppression of democracy activists like Garry Kasparov and the banning of the anti-war, pro-human rights Russian-Chechen Friendship Society.
At Moscow Gay Pride on 27 May, I experienced first-hand Russia’s retreat from democracy; including government and police collusion with right-wing extremists. The Moscow city police and Russia’s elite anti-riot squad, the OMOH, not only suppressed a peaceful, lawful protest. They also failed to protect the Gay Pride marchers against violent attack by neo-Nazis, and mostly failed to arrest the attackers. Only a handful of far rightists were seized – and most of them were quickly released, often without charge.
The fascists were, in effect, given a free hand to give us queers a good thrashing. The repression began when the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, issued an order in mid-May prohibiting the Gay Pride march. He warned that the full power of the state would be deployed to stop it. What was he afraid of? How could a few dozen Gay Pride marchers be a threat to anyone, let alone the mighty Russian state? Luzhkov pressed ahead with his ban, even though the right to peaceful protest is guaranteed by Russian law, and despite a European Court of Human Rights ruling only two weeks earlier that a similar ban on a Gay Pride march in Warsaw was illegal.
I went to Moscow, at the request of the Gay Pride organisers, to show solidarity with their campaign for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender human rights, and to support their defiance of Luzhkov’s unlawful decree. Given the march ban and the Mayor’s threats, only 40 people dared join the Gay Pride rally outside Moscow City Hall. When we attempted to hand in a letter of protest to Mayor Luzhkov, all hell broke loose. The organiser of Moscow Gay Pride, Nikolai Alekseev, was arrested and the police tried to grab the rest of us. I managed to escape the snatch squads. Then, as if on some pre-arranged signal, hordes of neo-Nazis, ultra-nationalists and religious fanatics stormed through the police lines and laid into us, punching and kicking. They gave Nazi salutes and snarled their chilling chants: “Moscow is not Sodom” and “Death to homosexuals.” The police and OMOH stood by and watched them batter us.
When I held up a placard reading “Gay Rights,” written in both Russian and English, I was punched in the right eye and almost knocked unconscious. The fascists then dragged me to the ground. I was kicked from head to toe. Dozens of police saw this happen. They did not intervene; not initially. When they eventually decided to act, it was to arrest me – not my assailants. The right-wing thugs were allowed to walk away.
There were hundreds of police on duty. They could have easily stopped the neo-Nazis from coming within 100 yards of us. But they didn’t. I can only presume this police inaction was a deliberate, official decision. Several times I saw OMOH and police officers openly fraternising with far right militants. They were chatting, as if they knew each other. In one instance, I observed a police officer pointing out to homophobic extremists the direction in which Gay Pride participants had fled. The extremists then stormed up the street and attacked our people. It looked like the police were encouraging and helping the right-wingers to bash us.
Russian activists have since suggested that some of the attackers may have been plain clothes police officers. They say it is a common Kremlin method of dealing with dissidents, dating back to Soviet times. I am not sure. But I did see men in civilian gear who had been part of the neo-Nazi mob walk freely through police lines and get into police vehicles. When I was arrested, I was frog-marched to a police bus. In what felt like a deliberate act of intimidation, I was forced to sit next to three neo-Nazis who had been arrested earlier in the afternoon. The riot police abused me as a “faggot”. They also demanded to know whether I was gay. I hesitated for a moment, fearing the consequences if I admitted my homosexuality. When I summoned up the courage to admit that I am gay, one of the OMOH officers whacked his truncheon into the palm of his hand and boasted: “Wait until we get you to the police station. Then we will have some fun with you.” He was obviously not planning to offer me afternoon tea.
Soon after my beating and arrest, the Moscow police realised it might be bad PR, given the international media coverage. They swiftly began a damage limitation exercise; putting out a statement claiming that I had been detained for my own protection and that my assailant had been arrested. This is not true. According to the police officer who has since investigated my assault, Evgeni Guskov, my assailant is unknown and has not been arrested. While the Moscow police have now opened a criminal investigation into the assault on me, I suspect it is largely a PR exercise to give the impression that they are taking action. I don’t expect the perpetrator will be arrested. Too many Moscow police are homophobes and fascist sympathisers.
At last year’s attempted Moscow Gay Pride march, the German Green Party MP, Volker Beck, was struck in the face by a rock thrown by a right-wing extremist. The assailant was filmed attacking Beck. In the Russian edition of Newsweek, he was named and he openly boasted that he was the attacker. He has never been arrested, let alone brought to court.
The Moscow authorities seem to protect the far right, even when they commit violent hate crimes and make a public confession.I got off lightly: a bit of concussion and eye damage. Doctors say I should make a full recovery in a couple of months. My injuries are, of course, nothing by comparison to the far worse beatings inflicted on Russian human rights defenders, investigative journalists, environmental activists and campaigners against the war in Chechnya. Sometimes, they end up dead.
Do I have any regrets? Well, getting bashed was not what I had expected or wanted. But I was aware of the risks. Taking risks is sometimes necessary, in order to challenge injustice. On the plus side, my beating had the positive effect of helping expose the violent, repressive nature of Putin’s and Luzhkov’s rule. Moreover, what began as a protest about lesbian and gay human rights turned into something much bigger. We ended up defending the right to freedom of expression and peaceful protest. These are freedoms worth defending - for all Russians, gay and straight.
Peter Tatchell is the Green Party’s human rights spokesperson and its parliamentary candidate for Oxford East. More info: www.greenoxford.com/peter and www.petertatchell.net
