Moscow police break up unsanctioned LGBT rights rally

LGBT rights rally
(Image credit: Maxim Zmeyev/Reuters)

Police detained about 20 people during an unsanctioned LGBT rights rally in central Moscow on Saturday, Reuters reports, including demonstrators and anti-gay protestors. Authorities have now blocked demonstrators from holding a pride parade 10 years in a row. Police and anti-LGBT protestors attacked, beat, and pepper-sprayed activists.

Activists, who were outnumbered by cops at Tverskaya Square, held a rainbow flag reading "Make love not war" before police took it away.

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Julie Kliegman

Julie Kliegman is a freelance writer based in New York. Her work has appeared in BuzzFeed, Vox, Mental Floss, Paste, the Tampa Bay Times and PolitiFact. Her cats can do somersaults.