Moscow clubgoers found guilty of ‘hooliganism’ after LGBTQ+ bar raids
More raids have seen clubgoers arrested and charged (NIKOLAY DOYCHINOV/AFP via Getty Images)
A number of clubgoers in Russia’s capital Moscow have been found guilty of ‘petty hooliganism’ after police raids on three venues under the country’s draconian anti-LGBTQ+ propaganda law.
On Saturday (30 November), three LGBTQ+ nightclubs — Arma, Inferno and Mono — were the subject of raids by Russian security forces “as part of measures to combat LGBT propaganda”, according to reporting by the Russian state-run TASS news agency.
One clip shared on social media showed clubbers sitting cross-legged on the floor with their hands behind their heads as police in riot gear moved through the crowd and shouted orders, whilst another filmed people being marched out of a venue and towards a police vehicle.
According to a source who spoke with news outlet Vyorstka, clubgoers at Mono were handed handed military draft notices by police.
🚨 Russia: Putin regime enforcers raided 3 largest Moscow nightclubs on Friday night —
— Igor Sushko (@igorsushko) November 30, 2024
Simachev, Mutabor/ARMA and Mono.
Many men taken to the military conscription offices.
Women eventually released after their passports were photographed.
Raids with police K9s lasted for hours. pic.twitter.com/T4oeVZEDQE
During the same raid, the director of a travel agency for gay men was also arrested for “organising tours for members of the LGBT community”, according to The Moscow Times.
Following the raids, the press service for the Lefortovo District Court in Moscow said seven arrested individuals were found guilty of petty hooliganism, disrupting public order and whereby they “disrespect for society, accompanied by obscene language in a public place.”
“These citizens committed an administrative offense, which was expressed in obvious disrespect for society, accompanied by obscene language in a public place,” a statement released by the court reads.
The raids in Moscow are the latest in a long-string of sporadic and politically motivated attacks on venues since the Russian government enacted its ban on so-called LGBTQ+ propaganda, whereby it declared the ‘international public LGBT movement’ – which is not an organised or real group – as extremist in 2023.
The crackdown on LGBTQ+ identities under the ruse of hunting out propaganda has seen bar workers and venue owners thrown in jail, more than 50 clubgoers detained in October, language-learning app Duolingo forced to remove queer content, children’s cartoon My Little Pony labelled 18+ and a gay student expelled from university for posting make-up videos online.
Russia’s government has also taken steps in recent years to legislate LGBTQ+ out of public life, including bans on gender affirming care, same-sex marriage and adoption bans and no protection from discrimination from queer people.
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