As Sochi Olympics Open, Four Gay Activists Arrested in St. Petersburg

A small group of activists
wanted to protest the treatment of gays under current Russian law.
They hoped to unfurl a banner on a bridge Friday in St. Petersburg
quoting the Olympic Charter’s language against discrimination. They
were, instead, detained by police. The reports seem to vary. The
Associated Press
reports that they were rounded up by police after unfurling the
banner. However, according to BuzzFeed, police stopped the
protesters while they were on their way to the bridge, indicating
they already knew what they were planning
somehow:

An LGBT activist who witnessed the arrests told BuzzFeed from
St. Petersburg that the four protestors had stopped on their way to
a bridge leading to the picturesque Vasilyevskiy Ostrov
neighborhood to take some pictures when they were suddenly
surrounded by police cars. The arrival of the police was so sudden
that activists had no idea how they had even learned of the planned
protest.

“Either the phones are being listened to or maybe there are
cameras all over the city; only a few people knew about this
action,” said the activist, who asked to remain anonymous out of
fear for her safety.

The activists involved knew there was a risk of arrest, but
didn’t expect a confrontation with police officers until they
reached the bridge, the activist added.

I guess even Russians can still be surprised at how much the
government is monitoring them.

Though the Olympics officially open tonight, a major expansion
in the number of events prompted competition and coverage to begin
Thursday. Observers wondered how much NBC would be willing to
discuss the various controversies surrounding the Olympics. It
turned out they were indeed quite willing, at least at the moment
while the schedule isn’t too hectic. Announcer Bob Costas brought
up the anti-gay controversy almost immediately in the introduction
of the evening’s coverage and later brought out experts David
Remnick and Vladimir Pozner to discuss the political landscape. The
pair of them make the very important points that: One, Vladimir
Putin cares about how the Russians evaluate the success of the
Olympics, not America or Europe (terrorism is his major concern,
not activism); and two, the vast majority of Russian people really,
really, really don’t like the gays. Watch the interview
here.