On May 27, seven members of the LGBT movement «Callisto» were detained in Yaroslavl an hour after their art and protest action devoted to the abolition of the criminal sentence for sodomy. They told «7x7» that they were attacked by a provocateur and accused of stealing a folding bed.
Activists of the LGBT movement «Callisto» organized an action at the monument to Fedor Volkov, where homosexuals used to meet in Yaroslavl during Soviet times, on May 27. Two men lying on a folding bed made a symbolical coming-out. The action took several minutes.
Then the activists went for a walk around the city, the police found them on the Sovetskaya square. According to the post in their group on vk.com, a few police cars («wagons») approached them:
«It turned out that the police had received a strange message about „a crowd with slogans and banners.“ Soon several police cars arrived, „no slogans and banners were found.“ After a while some provoker showed up; threatening to kill and saying „get in the wagon“, he accused activists that „they had stolen his folding bed.“ Naturally, it hadn’t been stolen,» — it is said in the message.
«Callisto» activist Alexander Yubors told «7x7» that he and other activists spent about three hours in the police department and were released without being reported «due to lack of violations.» Activists drew up a report on an unknown young man, whom they considered to be a provocateur. Yubors complained that the man threatened to break his phone and demanded to stop filming him.
At the communist parade on May 1, LGBT activists unfurled LGBT flags in the rear of the column. On the International Day Against Homophobia on May 17, they organized a «free hugs» action. «Callisto» participants faced aggression only on the memorial day of the victims of transphobia in 2017, when they had announced their event on the Internet in advance and were attacked by aggressive young people.
