Moscow police carried out raids on nightclubs hosting LGBTQ events on December 1, just two days after Russia’s Supreme Court banned the “international LGBTQ movement” and classified it as an extremist movement. The police forced people in attendance to strip to their underclothes and took photos of their identity cards in what’s being described by activists as an “act of intimidation”.
Moscow police raided three night clubs hosting LGBTQ events – Secret, Mono Bar and Kinky Rouge – as part of a coordinated operation the night of December 1 to December 2. Russian police said the raids were part of an anti-drug operation, a version of events contested by LGBTQ rights groups.
A video posted on the Telegram channel "Attention Moscow" shows a police van parked in front of a nightclub called Kinky Rouge. A police officer watches as people file out of the club.
'The police said, "Now you can carry on f*cking"'
"Nikita" (not his real name) was at Kinky Rouge the night of December 1. The nightclub doesn’t advertise itself as a gay club, but it was hosting an event for the LGBTQ community, according to the independent Russian media outlet Verstka.
Everything was calm until the police arrived. I was sitting near the exit and so I saw when they came into the club.
I had a feeling that there was going to be a problem, so I went straight to the coat check to pick up my jacket and leave. However, when I headed towards the exit, it was locked and there was a police van outside.
The police made us strip down to our underclothes. They didn’t say why but we had to stay like that for about 30 minutes while the police checked out the club and what was happening inside. There were about ten officers and they had a dog, too. Then, we got dressed again and started leaving, one by one.
An officer stationed by the exit took photos of our passports. The people who didn’t have their passports with them were put into the police van. The last people to leave heard the police say, “Now, you can carry on f*cking.”
[When they took our passports], I think it is likely that [the police] were also noting "gay, lesbian, transgender", etc. In the future, they could use that to manipulate people, to scare them and keep them afraid.
I had a panic attack while it was happening, I felt like my life was hanging by a thread. I was afraid that they were going to take me away, but I couldn’t tell my parents because they don’t know anything about me or where I had gone that night. I messaged my sister so that I wouldn’t feel so alone and in danger. It was so frightening and, as soon as I got out of the club, I started crying and fled, as quickly as I could.
I want to escape from here as soon as possible. I am going to stop going to clubs and set aside my life as a LGBTQ person.
'This is the most difficult period for the LGBTQ community since the Soviet era'
The police raids occurred just two days after the country instituted a ban on the "international LGBT movement.” The Russian Supreme Court approved on November 30 a request from the Ministry of Justice to classify the “international LGBT social movement” as an extremist movement and ban it in Russia.
Aleksei Sergeev, an activist for LGBTQ and human rights, said that this decision has paved the way for hefty prison sentences for anyone found guilty of taking part in "LGBT propaganda".
Under this decision, activists could be sentenced to up to 12 years in prison.
Say if you took part in an LGBTQ gathering, you could be considered a participant in extremist activities, which could land you in prison for two to six years. If you organise an LGBTQ party, you could be seen as an organiser and get sentenced to four to eight years in prison or more. This is the most difficult period for the LGBTQ community since the Soviet era.
A nightclub called Central Station, one of the oldest gay clubs in St. Petersburg, announced on December 1 that it would be shutting its doors in light of the ban.
Russian authorities have claimed that the raids on the night of December 1 were meant to target drug trafficking. This is a common pretext used by police to arrest people with undesirable opinions, according to a member of Sphere, a Russian NGO focused on defending LGBTQ rights.
'LGBTQ people no longer have control over their private lives'
Their aim is intimidation.
It’s an alarming turn of events because some people thought that the court’s decision wouldn’t affect service industries or entertainment industries as these companies don’t make expressly political statements.
However, these raids show that LGBTQ people no longer have control of their private lives and that the authorities plan on controlling their pastimes.
The aim is to frighten LGBTQ people and force them underground. Already, people are deleting messages and photos and closing any personal or public pages with links to the LGBTQ community.
It is as if we are erasing decades of history of the LGBTQ community and movement, its very life.
In recent times, homophobic activists [...] have also become more active. The authorities have essentially given them a green light to manifest their hate and to hunt down LGBTQ people and activists. The government has made it clear that they approve these people’s campaigns of intimidation, outing and persecution of LGBTQ people.
An activist with Info Center, a group that helps transgender individuals, says that they are afraid of the growing repression.
We’ve seen an increase in poor mental health, including suicidal ideation, amongst the LGBTQ community. People in more rural locations or smaller towns can feel particularly alone because there is less support there. At the same time, it has become more difficult to trust people online or new people because of the fear of being outed.
