Anti-LGBT Extremists Raid Moscow Club Hours Before Mykki Blanco Concert
Photo by Timothy Saccenti
Anti-LGBT activists in Moscow have allegedly raided Solyanka, the club where Mykki Blanco was set to perform today, Dazed reports.
According to the report, uniformed agents occupied the club hours ahead of this evening’s show, and no one was harmed. Mykki Blanco was not at the club at the time. According to Dazed:
“They burst into the venue and ordered everyone, to stay in their places — no smoking, no phone calls, no bathroom trips,” a Solyanka employee told the Village.
The anonymous source said that four cars arrived around 1pm. The men gave an impression of being Federal Drug Control Service agents, but were not immediately identifiable from their uniforms. The men shut off the electricity, acted rudely and abusively towards the confused employees. Then, without giving any explanation or reason, they suddenly announced that everyone needed to vacate the building within five minutes.
Rain TV later reported that the club was being guarded and the yard was blocked off by cars from a private security group called Spec Group. A local told Afisha that he asked a guard at the door when the club will be reopening, to which he replied, “Never.”
According to reports, an extremist anti-LGBT group called God’s Will– whose leader Dmitry Enteo openly condemns LGBT people as “agents of Satan” who must be forced into “rehab”– were aggressive protesting the show hours before the raid. In response to the club’s shutdown, Enteo posted a horrifying reaction tweet that said: “The perverts of Solyanka thought they can get away with everything? It’s important for everyone to understand that without respecting Eastern Orthodox faith and the family, you cannot work in Russia.”
Though they’ve never been charged by Russian law enforcement, God’s Will members have assaulted Russian LGBT activists and have been connected to harassment of Pussy Riot supporters.
Mykki Blanco acknowledged the situation with the following tweets:
To our knowledge the police raid of the club today does not have any involvement with my performance. I have not been to the club today
— mykki blanco (@MykkiBlanco) November 14, 2014
Moscow I Got So Much Love For Y’all xo mykki pic.twitter.com/vYviGaOISY
— mykki blanco (@MykkiBlanco) November 14, 2014
His show was then moved to a new venue called LOL, which he announced on Twitter:
Moscow Russia!!! See you tonight at “LOL CLUB” рок в рулоне rok v rulone рок в рулоне !!!!! pic.twitter.com/DnNfbYFToN
— mykki blanco (@MykkiBlanco) November 14, 2014
Solyanka employees have declined to issue a statement beyond posting a comment on their Facebook page which said that the club was “experiencing what some would call technical difficulties”. The club wrote:
“We are very grateful for your support but urgently ask you to abstain from any sort of direct street actions in relation with this situation – this might only worsen it. Everything will be OK.”
According to Afisha, two Eastern Orthodox protestors showed up to the club to demonstrate at this evening’s press conference. In the course of their protest, they claimed that Mykki Blanco “mocks God” and that Solyanka “is a seedbed of sin”.
According to News.ru, the Federal Agency for State Property Management stated that the club was seized because of financial debts to the city that have been owed since 2013. Officials have yet to issue any statements about why they chose today to hire a private security force to seize the club.
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