Six members of the punk protest group were attacked as they prepared to stage a performance about 21 miles from the site of the Winter Olympics. Police questioned witnesses but no arrests were made.
By Stephen Rex Brown / NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Wednesday, February 19, 2014, 11:00 AM
Cossack militia men lashed members of Pussy Riot with whips Wednesday
as they attempted to perform a song under a sign advertising the Sochi
Olympics.
Six members of the feminist collective — five women and one man — were about to perform their protest song “Putin will teach you to love the motherland” about 21 miles from the site of the Winter Games when the 10 Cossacks and other security officials closed in.
RELATED: 2 MEMBERS OF PUSSY RIOT RELEASED FROM RUSSIAN POLICE CUSTODY
One used pepper spray on the punk rockers, another whipped several members while other government thugs ripped off their signature balaclavas and tossed a guitar in the trash.
Police arrived on the scene and questioned witnesses, but no one was arrested — an apparent example of the lawlessness in President Vladimir Putin’s Russia that the band rails against.
The Cossacks cracked the whip against Pussy Riot member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova with a whip as she lay on the ground.
The violence lasted only three minutes and one Pussy Riot member, a man
wearing a bright yellow tank top, was left with blood on his face.
Two of the members tweeted images of their injuries from the attack.
RELATED: MADONNA, PUSSY RIOT APPEAR AT AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SHOW
Pussy Riot, a performance-art collective involving a loose membership
of feminists who edit their actions into music videos, has become an
international flashpoint for those who contend Putin's government has
exceeded its authority, particularly restricting human and gay rights.
The group became an international sensation in 2012 when they barged into Moscow’s main cathedral and performed a “punk prayer” in which they begged the Virgin Mary to save the country from Putin, just as he was about to return to a third term as president.
RELATED: PUSSY RIOT: THE DEFINITIVE PRIMER
Two members of the group, Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina, were sentenced to two years in prison, but were released in December under an amnesty bill widely seen as a Kremlin effort to assuage critics before the Olympics.
On Tuesday, two members of the group were briefly detained in Sochi, but not arrested.
The group has called for a boycott of the Olympics.
The Cossacks served as the czarist cavalry beginning in the 15th century and were often used as border guards. Under communism they largely disappeared, but have since resurfaced, particularly in the south.
They have served as an auxiliary police force in the Krasnodar province, which includes Sochi. Patrol leader Igor Glichev compared the force to the Texas Rangers.
With News Wire Services
Six members of the feminist collective — five women and one man — were about to perform their protest song “Putin will teach you to love the motherland” about 21 miles from the site of the Winter Games when the 10 Cossacks and other security officials closed in.
Morry Gash/AP
Members of the punk group Pussy Riot, including Nadezhda Tolokonnikova in the blue balaclava and Maria Alekhina in the pink balaclava, tweeted images of their injuries from the attack.
One used pepper spray on the punk rockers, another whipped several members while other government thugs ripped off their signature balaclavas and tossed a guitar in the trash.
Police arrived on the scene and questioned witnesses, but no one was arrested — an apparent example of the lawlessness in President Vladimir Putin’s Russia that the band rails against.
Morry Gash/AP
The group was preparing to perform its protest song, ‘Putin will teach you to love the motherland.’
Morry Gash/AP
The Cossack militiamen also violently ripped off the band’s signature balaclava masks.
Two of the members tweeted images of their injuries from the attack.
RELATED: MADONNA, PUSSY RIOT APPEAR AT AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL SHOW
Morry Gash/AP
A Russian security officer attacks Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and a photographer as she and fellow members of the punk group Pussy Riot staged a protest performance in Sochi.
The group became an international sensation in 2012 when they barged into Moscow’s main cathedral and performed a “punk prayer” in which they begged the Virgin Mary to save the country from Putin, just as he was about to return to a third term as president.
Morry Gash/AP
Cossack militiamen lashed members of Pussy Riot with a whip.
Two members of the group, Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina, were sentenced to two years in prison, but were released in December under an amnesty bill widely seen as a Kremlin effort to assuage critics before the Olympics.
On Tuesday, two members of the group were briefly detained in Sochi, but not arrested.
The group has called for a boycott of the Olympics.
The Cossacks served as the czarist cavalry beginning in the 15th century and were often used as border guards. Under communism they largely disappeared, but have since resurfaced, particularly in the south.
They have served as an auxiliary police force in the Krasnodar province, which includes Sochi. Patrol leader Igor Glichev compared the force to the Texas Rangers.
With News Wire Services
Comments
Post a Comment