Moscow police carried out several raids on LGBT clubs in the Russian capital on Friday night and early Saturday morning, local media reported cited by Efe.
“The raids have been carried out in Moscow since 10:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. GMT)” on Friday, the Telegram channel Ostorozhno Moskva (Beware of Moscow) reported.
According to this channel, the police arrived at the premises and asked those present for their identity documents, and after photographing the documents, the police let the people who were in the clubs leave.
According to witnesses cited by Ostorozhno Moskva, the police entered several saunas under the pretext that they were looking for drugs.
Russia’s Supreme Court banned LGBTI+ activism as extremism on November 30, in the most drastic measure against defenders of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in the country.
The verdict was communicated to the press by a judge after a closed-door hearing.
The decision covers the “international LGBTI+ movement” and all its branches in Russia.
In a statement submitted to the court in early November, the Ministry of Justice argued that authorities had identified “signs and manifestations of an extremist nature” of an LGBTI+ movement operating in Russia.
The Public Ministry referred to “incitement to social and religious discord,” but without providing details or evidence, according to the North American agency AP.
Source: TSF
