Video: Crackdown on the Slavic Pride Protest

There were few surprises this weekend over how the Russian police handled a sizable protest by gay rights activists in Moscow, who sought to take advantage of the televised Eurovision event to bring attention to their persecuted status.  As human rights groups cry foul over the state's response, the Moscow Times reports that Peter Tatchell and Edvard Murzin, a heterosexual human rights activist, unfurled banners and shouted slogans including, "No compromises! Equal rights! Homophobia is a national disgrace!" (...) "Russian people don't have freedom."  Fred Weir at CSM has gently called this crackdown "a sign of a less harmonious Russia," while the Economist notes that the coincidence of the Eurovision Song Contest and the Victory Day parade of Russian military might show Vladimir Putin's concentration on the "external political effect" of the event.