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.
