Gay Supporters Make The Side Walk in Front of Russian Embassy Rainbow
Gay rights supporters have painted a crosswalk outside the Russian Embassy in Stockholm, Sweden in all the colors of the rainbow flag to protest Russia’s persecution of its LGBT citizens.
Gay rights supporters have painted the zebra crossing outside the Russian embassy in Stockholm in the colours of the rainbow following angry exchanges during last week’s Pride festival over the country’s treatment of LGBT individuals. Stockholm police have been in regular contact with the Russian headquarters since the earlier manifestations but were unaware of the latest incident.
“We have no case on it but probably it is classed as vandalism or a violation of traffic regulations,” Ulf Lindgren of Stockholm police told Dagens Nyheter.
He added that the police are not responsible for restoring the walkway to its regular pattern of black and white.
“Protesting is one thing, it has to be done. But this is wrong even if the objective is something else. It can affect people who are using the zebra crossing. There’s a risk it can create danger for those using the crossing as they should look a certain way. It’s confusing if they are different,” added Lundgren.
On Saturday a group of naked men marched back and forth across the rainbow crossing outside the embassy. One of the group took pictures but it remains unclear if they are connected with the stunt.
400 men and women staged a kiss-in protest outside the Russian Consulate in Antwerp, Belgium on Friday to demonstrate support for Russia’s LGBT community and protest against that country’s recently approved anti-gay laws.
The event named “To Russia with Love,” coincided with the final days of World Out Games, being held in Antwerp.
Many of the kiss-in participants included openly gay athletes, who called for the Winter 2014 Olympic Games to be moved out of Sochi and to another location.
[Photo via Street Art Utopia facebook page]
Comments