Russians Protest Disallow Ice Hockey Goal at US Embassy

                                                                          

Moscow: It was the biggest demonstration so far concerning the Sochi Olympics, and it had nothing to do with gay rights, environmental damage or corruption.

Dozens of Russian fans gathered Monday outside the US Embassy in Moscow, some brandishing hockey sticks, to protest a disallowed goal scored by the Russian team in Saturday's Olympic hockey match against the United States in Sochi, a decision that they felt cost them the game against their old Cold War rivals.

A crowd of mainly students erected a large banner in front of the embassy reading, "Turn the referee into soap!", a common Russian chant at sporting events, implying the referee is fit only to have his bones and body fat boiled down for soap.

The object of their good-natured ire was Brad Meier, the US referee who overturned a goal late in the third period that could have meant a victory for the Russians in the close-fought game, which the US went on to win, 3-2, in a shootout.

Many Russians, including the team's coach, Zinetula Bilyaletdinov, accused Meier afterward of making a mistake in disqualifying the shot from Fedor Tyutin, although the International Ice Hockey Federation has backed the referee's decision.

To emphasize their point, some demonstrators used kitchen graters to turn blocks of soap into powder, a video report from a pro-Kremlin news site, Life News, showed.

"It's a shame it's not American soap," a young man in a jersey of the Russian national team told the Life News reporter, then laughed.

Despite the many controversies concerning the Sochi Olympics, the hockey demonstration was the largest protest action since the games began, attracting almost twice the number of demonstrators as a protest held over the weekend in Moscow that criticized the cost of the games and supported gay rights.

- New York Times