NEW YORK CITY: Six Pussy Riot Protesters Arrested At Russian Consulate

Six supporters of imprisoned Russian punkers Pussy Riot were arrested on Manhattan's Upper East Side yesterday after protesting outside of the Russian consulate.

The protest by about 30 people, several wearing Pussy Riot's signature bright-colored balaclavas, was the latest in a wave of demonstrations around the world supporting the punk rockers sentenced earlier by a Moscow court to two years behind bars. US-based sympathizers gathered outside the Saint Nicholas Russian Orthodox church and the nearby Russian consulate to sing punk songs and wave placards critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin and the powerful Russian church, which has close links to the Kremlin. "Unholy Trinity," one placard read, listing Putin, the judge who presided over the rockers' trial in Moscow, and the Orthodox Church's Patriarch Kirill. I'm here to express my outrage and to spread the word to people who don't know what's going on," said Russian-American Xenia Grubstein, 31, wearing a purple balaclava. The peaceful protest ran into a heavy police presence outside the Russian consulate and at least six people were arrested for blocking traffic or, under an obscure New York law, for wearing face masks, an AFP reporter said.

Those not arrested later joined a larger crowd for a protest in Times Square where the NYPD did not apparently object to their masks.