MOSCOW, May 18, 2006 – Gays in Moscow have this evening called on President Putin to sack the Mayor of Moscow, Yuri Luzhkov, in the wake of his decision not to permit the Moscow “Gay Pride” Parade on May 27.
“The march will go ahead as planned,” vowed Nikolai Alekseev, the head of GayRussia.ru and one of the Pride organisers.
He added that the refusal would be taken to the Russian courts tomorrow (Friday).
“We appeal to president Vladimir Putin to sack the municipal dictator Luzhkov who is fully responsible for the recent homophobic outbursts in Moscow,” Alekseev continued
“The Russian President has the right, according to the law, to sack the Mayor of Moscow.
“At the same time,” he continued, “the head of the Moscow police head should resign as he said that he is unable to provide security to a huge number of citizens who pay taxes for their security.
“The decision of the Moscow government means not that they can not allow this particular march and it means that any public action of sexual minorities will be banned due to the fact that they cant provide security. So, now we can say that gays are not safe here anymore.”
The Moscow City Hall official responsible for working with the authorities to provide security, N.V. Kulikov, said that “this march can provoke the wave of protest actions which can lead to group breaches of public order and mass disturbances”.
This was based on representations from politician and legislative authorities of Russian and the region of the Russian Federation, religious leaders, public organisations Kazaks and individual citizens.
The representation, he said, asked that the request to stage such a public event should not be allowed as “this march can provoke the wave of protest actions which can lead to group breaches of public order and mass disturbances”.
Organisers had applied on Monday for the permit to stage the parade.
For months, the mayor – seen by many as the most homophobic mayor in Europe – has vowed that he would not permit a gay Pride parade.
UkGayNews.Org.Uk
■ Yesterday, the New York-based Human Rights Watch named Luzhkov in it's top five “hall of shame” of public officials who have actively promoted prejudice against lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people in their countries.
