Protests over punk band's jail term

Aug 17 2012

Human rights activists have taken to the streets in support of feminist punk band Pussy Riot whose members were jailed for two years for hooliganism in Moscow.

Crowds of banner-waving supporters protested outside Russia's embassy in London's Kensington Palace Gardens and masked demonstrators also protested in O'Connell Street, Dublin's main thoroughfare.

The three female band members were each sentenced to two years in prison for hooliganism driven by religious hatred and offending religious believers.

The trio were arrested in March after an unauthorised performance in Moscow's main cathedral calling for the Virgin Mary to protect Russia against leader Vladimir Putin.

Three windows at the London embassy were smashed and a railing damaged on Thursday night before the verdicts were reached. On Friday, the band's supporters expressed their outrage outside the building.

Tommy Anarchic, 26, lead singer for London-based electro-punk band Without My Medicine, said: "This is bo****ks really.

"All they did was annoy the right-wing church in Russia, which is a big power in that part of the world. If they did the same performance at a nightclub, they would have been fine. I think the Russian authorities could have let this slide. Now they have the world covering this."

Sir Paul McCartney, Bjork, Sting and Madonna have publicly supported the punk provocateurs. Sir Paul wrote to the women telling them to "stay strong" and that he would do everything in his power to help them. As well as London and Dublin, supporters also took to the streets of Paris, Kiev, Berlin and Sofia.

An illustrator who only gave her name as Tatiana, 28, and moved to the UK from Moscow last year, said: "People are so brainwashed in Russia that any act of creative expression gets a load of over-reaction from the government.

"But even though I feel they (Pussy Riot) did something wrong, the government's reaction of imprisoning them seems over the top. They are being punished like criminals for something so trivial."