'HOMOSEXUAL PROPAGANDA'

Dozens of LGBT Activists Arrested at Russian Rally

The demonstration was deemed “harmful to the health of children” by authorities.

Thirty Russian activists were reportedly arrested Saturday at an LGBT rally in St. Petersburg. Aleksei Nazarov, a co-organizer of the demonstration, told Agence France-Presse he was being held in a police van after the event, while “everyone else has been taken to a police station.” According to Nazarov, police swooped in anyway and targeted protesters who had the “most colorful flags and clothes.” Demonstrators calling for LGBT rights to be respected had gathered at the city’s Palace Square and waved rainbow flags, despite authorities having earlier outlawed the event on the basis that it would be “harmful to the health of children.” Under a widely condemned law passed in 2013, any individual deemed by the authorities to be engaging in “homosexual propaganda” toward minors can be hit with fines or jail time.