EUROVISION 2009: I PREDICT A RIOT
Highlights, International, News, Travel by Jonny Kalifornia on May 12, 2009 at 12:36 pm
The air will be thick with tension in Moscow this Saturday – and it will have nothing to do with who’ll win the Eurovision Song Contest. Outside of the Olympic Arena – where this year’s event will take place – a battle of wills is due to play out.
For the fourth year running, Moscow’s Gay Pride march has been banned by city officials. At a Eurovision press conference in December, Moscow’s Mayor – Yury Luzhkov – sent a warning to the hundreds of expected gay tourists, looking to combine the two events for the ultimate gay celebration: “Entertain yourself, no problem, but not on the streets, squares, marches and demonstrations. We do not allow gay parades.” In the past, he has declared homosexuality ‘Satanic’.
Despite this, Moscow Pride organisers insist that the march will take place on Saturday. Seriously, things could get bloody: defiant marchers have clashed with Moscow riot police since the 2006 ban – that year there were 120 arrests. In 2007, Russian pop duo Tatu and an MEP were arrested for their participation. Homophobic attacks from neo-fascists and Christian militants have also been commonplace – as famously evidenced in 2007, when both Peter Tatchell and Right Said Fred’s Richard Fairbrass were assaulted. The police either look the other way, or appear to join in, reinforcing this torrid climate of sanctioned homophobia.
But with all of Europe’s eyes on the Russian capital, and with Eurovision being that most visible of tourism vehicles, surely the Mayor will want to avoid a repeat of the violent scenes witnessed in recent years? Maybe you should have one eye on BBC1 and the other on News24 on Saturday night…
Tags: BBC, celebrity, christian, europe, Eurovision, gay, gays, homophobia, Moscow, Parade, Police, pop, Pride, Rights
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