Picket in support of Pussy Riot held in Volgograd

Today, a picket in support of the group of girls named "Pussy Riot" took place in Volgograd, where the picketers read verses and tried to communicate with the audience. Then they were attacked by some unknown persons, who were later detained by the police.

The action took place in the evening, on the upper terrace of the 62^nd Army near the John the Forerunner Church, at the sculpture in honour of Russian Cossacks, and was aimed against clericalization of the Russian society and in support of the Pussy Riot group. Activists read poems by Alexander Pushkin and Dmitri Bykov, dedicated to Pussy Riot girls and published by the "Novaya Gazeta".

At the very start of the action, the picketers were attacked by unknown persons. They poured water over activists, took away their leaflets with verses and tore them apart. Then, the thugs snatched an anarcho-syndicalist flag from one of the picketers and tried to tear it up.

"We had planned a peaceful action, and we knew that religious fanatics and eight-wing ultras mat appear; however, we couldn't think that there would be so many of them, and they would behave so wildly," Boris Stikhin, the organizer of the picket and a member of the Volgograd Section of the International Union of Anarchists, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"Instead of listening to our verses, they poured our water and tore our flag. In this way they allegedly baptized us. Then he pulled out the sheets of paper with poems by Pushkin, Khlebnikov, Merezhkovsky and Mayakovsky out of my hands and tore them. Their reaction was absolutely wild," said Mr Stikhin.

According to his story, "policemen were silently watching these actions." Then, they detained the bullies and took them into the paddy wagon.

A law enforcement official refused to comment on the incident to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.