RUSSIA: 67 Arrested As Orthodox Priests And Skinheads Clash With LGBT Activists

Priests from the Russian Orthodox Church and skinheads clashed with LGBT activists at a St. Petersburg rally yesterday to mark Coming Out Day. There were 67 arrests.

The rally on the Field of Mars (Marsovo Pole) in the city’s downtown was scheduled at 2 p.m., but anti-gay activists arrived at the scene before that time to protest against the event. The activists included Cossacks, Orthodox protesters and members of Russian nationalist organizations. When the LGBT activists arrived, they were met by the anti-gay activists who sang religious songs and did not allow them to get to the venue of the rally. The protesters said they were against holding the event on the Field of Mars, which had a war memorial. Police intervened in the scuffle shortly after the gay rights activists attempted to raise rainbow flags.

One activist told reporters that the police failed to act because the G20 Summit has concluded and the international press has left the city. The headline on one Russian news report about the incident translates as, "With Obama gone, everything is permitted."


(Tipped by JMG reader Str8 Grandmother)

English Disco Lovers

As some of you know, Britain's vile English Defense League is a violent group of racist neo-Nazi skinheads who riot semi-regularly. Enter the English Disco Lovers:

The English Disco Lovers (EDL) movement aims to reclaim the hated EDL acronym from The English Defence League and make it stand for something positive. Currently we are attempting to Google bomb them for the search term 'EDL', as well as accumulating more Facebook likes and Twitter followers. More recently, we have been raising money for causes that support multiculturalism and equality. We aim to spoof the slogans and emblems of The English Defence League, showing them for what they really are - racist, outdated and not the type you'd invite to your disco! Unus Mundas, Una Gens, Unus Disco (One World, One Race, One Disco)!

In support of the English Disco Lovers, the dance act Let The Machines Do The Work has filmed their first music video at an actual English Defense League rally.  I love that one of the dancers waves around a photo of disco legend Nile Rodgers.

RELATED: On their Facebook page, the English Disco Lovers express support for the LGBT people of Russia. "Let's not forget, without the gay scene there would be no disco!"

REPORT: Russian Skinheads Use Social Media To Lure And Torture LGBT Teens

From the Spectrum Human Rights Alliance, which advocates for LGBT rights in Eastern Europe, comes a horrifying report:

Infamous Russian ultranationalist and former skin head, Maxim Martsinkevich, known under the nickname "Cleaver" (or "Tesak" in Russian) spearheaded a country wide campaign against LGBT teens using a popular social network VK.com to lure unsuspected victims through personal ads. Mr. Martsinkevich's numerous and enthusiastic followers started two projects: "Occupy Pedophilyaj" and "Occupy Gerontilyaj". Allegedly they are trying to identify and report pedophiles using these "movements".

In reality, over 500 online groups have been created inside VK.com social network in order to organize illegal militant groups in every Russian city. Oddly enough their idea of fighting pedophiles targets exclusively male teenagers who respond to the same-sex personal ads and show up for a date. Captured victims are bullied and often tortured while being recorded on video. These self-proclaimed "crime fighters" perform their actions under the broad day light, often outside and clearly visible to general public that indifferently passes by or even commend them.

Spectrum notes that videos of the victims are widely circulated in order to out the teens to their parents and classmates.  Some suicides have reportedly resulted.  The owner of VK.com, Pavel Durov, lives in the United States.

VIDEO: Spectrum has posted the below video of a gay Moscow teen being "bullied, tortured, and sprayed with urine in broad daylight." You may not want to watch this.

(Via Instinct Magazine)

Al-Jazeera Reports On Clement Meric

FRANCE: Vigils And Rallies Held For Murdered Pro-Gay Activist Clement Meric

Memorial vigils and rallies were held across France last night for murdered 19 year-old pro-gay activist Clement Vigil, who died yesterday after being attacked by neo-Nazis outside a Paris clothing shop. Many have blamed France's anti-gay marriage movement for spurring the attack, an allegation hotly denied by former Manif Pour Tous leader Fridige Barjot, who has vowed to sue a prominent marriage activist for making that claim.

Multiple arrests have been made in the killing.

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls announced earlier on Thursday that seven arrests had been made, including that of the individual suspected of delivering the final blow to Méric. French President François Hollande, speaking on an official visit to Japan, said he "condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms." "I have given the most rigorous possible instructions so that the authors of the odious act can be arrested at the earliest possible juncture," he said in a statement.

The Parti de Gauche (Left Party) reflected the mood of many, especially on the Left, in France. "The horror of fascism has just killed right in the middle of Paris,” they said in a statement. “Violently beaten to the ground by a group of activists from the extreme right, manifestly from the group JNR (Jeune Nationaliste Revolutionnaire)," the statement added. For his part, the leader of JNR, Serge Ayoub, also known as 'Batskin', has denied his group's involvement in the attack. "That's absolutely false," he said.

Among the groups memorializing Meric last night was the anti-fascist organization to which he had belonged.

Frigide Barjot: Clement Meric Would Be Alive If France Hadn't Legalized Marriage

"This extreme fight is the result of a power that for nine months has refused to listen to the French people.  The President has caused extremism to grow by passing a law that the French didn’t want, and in a manner that was authoritarian and undemocratic.  When we refuse to act like a democracy, extremism grows. In a way, you could say that there was a death because of this denial of democracy.

"The President and Pierre Bergé, who financed Mr. Holland and is also a leader and a great financier of the LGBT community, are inciting violence against people protesting legitimately, not against homosexuals, but against the anthropological change of society. I condemn the violence and I condemn the remarks of Mr. Bergé.  I did not participate in the last [Manif Pour Tous] event, because I feared that the right-wing factions that have threatened me would be there and disrupt peaceful protesters." - Former Manif Pour Tous leader Frigide Barjot, actually blaming the murder of 18 year-old activist Clement Meric on the legalization of gay marriage.  (Via AmericanBlog)

NOTE: Clement Meric died today after being beaten into brain-death yesterday by anti-gay neo-Nazis who allegedly belong to the group that marched with Manif Pour Tous on May 26th.  Earlier today Barjot threatened to sue gay marriage activist Pierre Bergé for implicating her group in Meric's murder. Manif Pour Tous has been repeatedly praised by NOM president Brian Brown, who appeared at one of their anti-gay events earlier this year.  NOM remains silent on the murder of Clement Meric.

NOTE II: Barjot's quote above comes via Google Translate. French speakers are invited to visit the original source and provide corrections.

FRANCE: Paris Student Activist Left Brain-Dead After Attack By Neo-Nazis

France has been rocked by a vicious attack by neo-Nazi skinheads which has left a well-known leftist student activist brain-dead.  Former Manif Pour Tous leader Frigide Barjot has vowed to sue a prominent gay marriage activist for implicating her movement in the attack. Via The Local:

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls announced on Thursday that four arrests had been made, including that of the individual suspected of delivering the final blow to Clément Méric in an attack on Wednesday evening. Méric, an 18-year-old student at Sciences Po in Paris, was “violently attacked” by a group of three skinheads, including one woman, near Saint-Lazare train station on Wednesday evening, it emerged on Thursday.

Méric, known for his radical left-wing activism, was left brain dead by the beating, which has provoked a flood of horrified and angry reactions from many different quarters in France. French President François Hollande, speaking on an official visit to Japan, said he "condemned the attack in the strongest possible terms." "I have given the most rigorous possible instructions so that the authors of the odious act can be arrested at the earliest possible juncture," he said in a statement.

The skinheads, who reportedly wore brass knuckles, are said to be members of the extreme-right Young Nationalist Revolutionaries. Accusations and denials are flying on all sides.

Marine Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front, made sure to distance her party from the violence. She called the attack on the young student repulsive and detestable but said far-right groups such as the JNR had no ties with her party. Le Pen reacted angrily when it was put to her that one of the three aggressors was seen wearing a t-shirt with her party's logo.

"Making this kind of association is scandalous, I'd like very much to know who this witness is," Le Pen told RTL radio. "You have no proof at all." French industrialist and pro-gay marriage activist Pierre Bergé has caused a stir by implicating the anti-gay marriage movement, known as 'Manif Pour Tous' (Demo for all) in the attack on Méric. "Despite everyone who's insulting me, I say again: the Manif pour tous accepted into their ranks these fascists who killed Clément. For them to reflect on."

The International Business Times has more:

Interior Minister Manuel Valls said a dispute between left-wingers and skinheads erupted at a clothes sale in Paris 9th district. Meric and three of his friends were attending a Fred Perry private sale in the central Rue de Caumartin when a group of four neo-Nazis, including a woman, arrived at the premises. Eyewitnesses told Le Monde the four sported shaved heads and swastika tattoos; one wore a sweatshirt of British neo-Nazi group Blood and Honour.

Meric, a member of campaigning group Action Anti-fasciste, and his friends reportedly started mocking the skinheads' over their outfit and the subsequent verbal dispute eventually became violent as the two groups moved outside in the street. Meric was reportedly punched with a knuckle-duster and hit his head on the pavement.

RELATED: Below is a photo of the Young Nationalist Revolutionaries attending last month's Manif Pour Tour rally in the streets of Paris.

LONDON: East End Pride Organizer Exposed As Founder Of Skinhead Group

Raymond Berry, one of the organizers of London's coming and first-ever East End Pride parade has resigned after being exposed as one of the founders of the English Defence League, a radical anti-Islamic skinhead group renowned for violent street clashes at its protest marches. East End Pride formed last month ostensibly in response to stickers which warned gays to "fear Allah" because the East End was now a "gay-free zone." Some local activists suspected at the time that the stickers had been planted by a group like the EDL in order to inflame tensions between gays and Muslims, although whether that is indeed the case has not yet been proven.

The remaining organizers of East End Pride have issued a statement to Pink News:

"It has come to light that Raymond has previously had dealings with the English Defence League, however he has assured us that he is no longer any part of the EDL group. [Mr Berry] stated that he has previously attended march’s [sic] organised by the EDL and UAF [Unite Against Fascism], however he found both organisations too extreme for his beliefs. None of this information was previously disclosed to the rest of the East End Gay Pride team, until it came to light late yesterday evening. The remaining members of the East End Gay Pride would like to state for the record that we do not support or condone anything that the EDL stand for."

Pride London, the city's main and long-running event, says that it continues to support East End Pride, which still intends to hold next month's planned parade.

"We have evidently been misled. Pride London remains committed to assisting any such event, and while we continue to accept that Raymond was not fronting the event for the EDL, and that the EDL remains unlinked to the event itself, we believe that his continued involvement would be inflammatory. East End Gay Pride asked our assistance to steward the event to ensure that the event remained only a pro-gay and not an anti-anything event."

What a fucking mess.

UPDATE: East End Pride has now been canceled. And noted activist Peter Tatchell has withdrawn his support for the group.

“We fear the march will be exploited and hijacked by the far right to create divisions and stir up intolerance against Muslim people. OutRage! opposes both homophobia and anti-Muslim bigotry. All forms of intolerance are wrong. The gay, Muslim, Jewish, Asian and black communities know the pain of prejudice and discrimination. We should stand together, united against hate. Let’s celebrate East London’s multicultural diversity. Don’t let bigotry divide us. Together, we can defeat the hate-mongers.”

SLOVAKIA: Skinheads Attack, Force Cancellation Of First Gay Pride Parade

Slovakia's first ever gay pride parade was canceled today after skinheads attacked the participants with rocks, eggs and a tear gas grenade. Organizers are blaming police for not providing adequate protection. Eight neo-Nazis were arrested and there were no serious injuries.

Members of the neo-Nazi group Slovenská Pospolitosť attacked the participants at a pre-parade rally for LGBT rights. A tear gas canister thrown by one of the approximately 80 neo-Nazis interrupted the rally, attended by 500 people, while the extremists also were throwing eggs at the participants, the Sme daily reported. Two rally participants who were carrying a rainbow flag, the symbol of the parade, were attacked by the neo-Nazis at Hviezdoslav Square in Bratislava. They attacked the flag barriers with their fists in the face, the SITA newswire reported. The rally and parade had been announced long in advance and observers said that the police had enough time to prepare for the security and safety of the parade participants.

“Instead of the parade of pride, Slovakia has experienced a day of shame,” wrote Sme’s deputy editor-in-chief Lukáš Fila in his commentary suggesting that the attack by the neo-Nazis against the participants shows a failure by the state. Fila states that if the state was unable to secure order at an event which had been announced months in advance and about which all media had been reporting and to which foreign diplomats had confirmed their presence, then in what other areas are the police incapable of securing public order?

Similar incidents marred gay pride events earlier this month in Belarus and Lithuania. Below, Slovakian police arrest one of the anti-gay rioters.

Skinheads Versus Gays In Bulgaria

When a tiny group of LGBT activists in Bulgaria attempted to protest a new law banning open displays of homosexuality, they were surrounding and intimidated by almost 100 skinheads.

Six activists of the youth organization “Lesbians, Gay, Bi- and Transgender in Action” arrived to the city of Pazardzhik from Sofia in order to protest an order to local City Council banning the display of homosexuality in public. The activities arranged large banners on which they started writing articles from the Bulgarian Constitution and the UN Human Rights Charter. No local gay rights activists joined them, Darik Radio reported. However, about 100 local young men most of them with shaved heads and in black clothes staged an anti-rally claiming they had gathered to express their support for the order issued by the City Council. As several of skin heads members attacked the gay rights activists they were immediately knocked down to the ground and arrested by the policemen guarding the rally, who were led personally by the head of the Pazardzhik Police Directorate, Commissar Stoyan Stoyanov. No-one was hurt during the skirmish. However, the anti-rally protestors shouted offensive slogans directed against the gay rights activists such as “No one wants you, losers”, “Out of Pazardzhik”, “Go to Uganda, freaks”.

Six of the skinheads were arrested.

Obama Assassination Plot Foiled

Another Obama assassination plot has been foiled.

Two white supremacists allegedly plotted to go on a national killing spree, shooting and decapitating black people and ultimately targeting Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, federal authorities said Monday.

In all, the two men whom officials described as neo-Nazi skinheads planned to kill 88 people - 14 by beheading, according to documents unsealed in U.S. District Court in Jackson, Tenn. The numbers 88 and 14 are symbolic in the white supremacist community.

The spree, which initially targeted an unidentified predominantly African-American school, was to end with the two men driving toward Obama, "shooting at him from the windows," the documents show. "Both individuals stated they would dress in all-white tuxedos and wear top hats during the assassination attempt," the court complaint states. "Both individuals further stated they knew they would and were willing to die during this attempt."

The number 88 is used by neo-Nazis to represent the words "Heil Hitler" as H is the eighth letter of the alphabet. The number 14 refers to David Lane's 14-word quote: "We must secure the existence of our people and a future for white children."

And of course, the wingnuts are already screaming that these arrests are phony and the timing of yesterday's announcement was meant to bolster Obama at the polls. "Bets on how long it takes to expose this as a fraud? I will place a bet of whatever, that the media will not report it when it is exposed."