Slavic Pride parade a brutal success

Today was the biggest event for Slavic Pride: the pride parade in Minsk.

So far it appears that 12 participants were arrested during the violent crack down on the parade, with eight being held in custody until court proceedings can be completed which could be as late as Monday.

UPDATE from UK Gay News:

Eight of those arrested and detained together have been told by the police that they do not have petrol in the car and cannot take them to the detention place where they were supposed to stay until the court hearing! They have been told that they will be released on the condition they show up in court on Monday. “It will be even worse for you if you don’t show up on Monday,” they were told.

The group of eight held together in custody – they were told earlier that they might be released due to a petrol shortage – have now been told that they will be kept locked-up until court on Monday. Medical services have been called as two Belarusians have injuries following their violent and brutal arrest as police broke-up the march.

There are grave security concerns for tonight’s pride party, with the chief of police meeting the owner of Minsk’s only gay club last night recommending it not go ahead. GayBelarus said they would have cancelled the event due the risk of participants from anti-gay protesters, however the short notice would make it impossible to cancel. As a result, security has apparently been increased substantially.

The police response was swift and heavy handed, though journalists were left alone and some great coverage has been achieved.

We were asked to arrive at GayBelarus’ headquarters at 9am sharp with little knowledge of what was going to happen during the day. A veil of secrecy covered every aspect of the parade details, as previous experience shows that unless this is done participants face the danger of being beaten by anti-gay demonstrators and arrested promptly by police.

After sign painting, coffee and final preparations we departed in small groups, so not to draw attention from authorities and undercover agents. These small groups, were broken up again with pairs of participants walking side by side pretending not to know any other participants in their vicinity. We were advised to put our camera away, act casually and follow the lead of the GayBelarus activists accompanying us.

What we did know was that a group of journalists would group in an area approximately seven minutes’ walk from a road where the march would cross to allow sufficient coverage to be achieved. A member of GayBelarus was to bring the journalists along a predefined route, with journalists being unaware of where the pride march would actually take place for security purposes.

We ended up in a park nestled amongst residential buildings where we waited for the rest of the pride participants. There we would unveil the flags and march down the main street of Minsk, finishing in a large park where the march would disperse – the aim being to avoid anti-gay protesters and arrest by the authorities. Shortly after arriving, however and we were advised to move to a restaurant on the main street to wait for more instructions. All along the street were activists from GayBelarus and GayRussia who were all acting as if they had never met one another in their lives.

After waiting in the restaurant, our translator received a phone call from one of the organisers and we quickly moved outside and into a taxi, where we were taken back to the area near GayBelarus’ headquarters. We were later joined by the majority of activists, who all arrived in small groups. Apparently, anti-gay protesters had recognised the head of GayBelarus, Sergei Androsenko and begun to mass on the street corner in wait of the march. Additionally, the group of journalists had been identified by the authorities and surrounded by police. As the safety of participants in the march was paramount, the decision was made to regroup and discuss the next move.

Eventually all pride participants had amassed and the decision had been made to hire taxis for everyone and go to the area where journalists had grouped. The strong police presence had apparently disbanded and there were no anti-gay protesters in the area.

The regatta of taxis proceeded down Minsk’s main street and upon arrival, activists from GayBelarus and GayRussia were quick to act. A ten metre pride flag was unfurled, with over half of the participants having their own personal pride flags to wear over themselves. The painted signs from the morning were proudly held up high, with slogans in Russian, Belorussian and English. As we madly ran ahead of the crowd to film, the large contingent of journalists at the end of the street ran towards the march. The march participants continued to anxiously look around in case of the appearance of police, but continued to shout slogans.

After a short pause for the press to take photos and interview people, the march continued down the street. Before reaching the corner a clandestine van screeched up to the corner and riot police swiftly jumped out after participants. Though many managed to run away, somewhere between 7-10 were arrested in the first instance. The pride flags were quickly moved out of sight by police and the van including some additional police vehicles that had arrived all departed.

Media gathered around the few participants that had managed not to be arrested during the first crackdown. A pride flag that was not taken by authorities was unfurled behind one of the participants, who spoke passionately about the LGBT cause in Belarus. Without warning, the remaining participants dashed and turning around more police vehicles had arrived to replace those that had just departed to deal with the remnants. Though they attempted to escape, they were detained after a short pursuit.

Before it was over, two more participants appeared and interviews with the media continued. Once again, during the interviews, a large police jeep arrived and riot police emerged promptly and detained the two participants in the jeep.

At this point, we decided it was time to depart and just as we were leaving, an entire bus of riot police had arrived to detain any other people they believed to be connected with GayBelarus or GayRussia. Suffice to say we managed to depart through the courtyard of an apartment building.

Tags: anti-gay, Belarus, GayBelarus, gayrussia, LGBT, Minsk, Pride, Slavic Pride

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 15th, 2010 at 08:27 and is filed under East Bloc Love, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.