London will
hold a protest against Chechnya’s concentration camp for gay men tomorrow (12
April).
Held outside
the Russian embassy at 5.30pm, the protest will be in response to the reports
of 100 gay men detained in former military prisons.
At least three
have been killed, according to LGBTI and human rights activists.
Pride In London
will lead the protest at the junction of Bayswater Road and Ossington Street.
Police will be there to ensure the protest’s peace and safety.
Steve Taylor,
Communications Director for European Pride Organisers Association (EPOA),
added: ‘More government action across the EU needs to be taken immediately to
stop these atrocities.
‘We are seeing
very little response to this in the mainstream media and government action so
far is poor.
‘We must not be
bystanders and we must challenge this inhumanity.’
Inside the
concentration camp for gay men
A Chechan
government spokesperson has denied there were any gay people in the region to
detain. They insisted ‘you can’t detain and harass someone who doesn’t exist in
the republic.’. The Kremlin also denied knowledge of a ‘purge’.
However, dozens
of gay men are being held in Argun, Chechnya. It is the first concentration
camp for LGBTI people since the days of the Holocaust and Fidel Castro.
Activists
behind the reporting say ‘several internment camps’ have been erected in order
to kill inmates or force them to promise to leave Chechnya.
One who was
able to flee from the former military headquarters claimed they were forced to
pay bribes to Chechen police ‘to be left alone’.
Another former
inmate has said he was beaten to force them to name other members of the LGBTI
community, including being electrocuted in a ‘homemade electric chair‘.
Activists on
the ground are ready to evacuate people
Russian group
LGBT Network said: ‘No national and/or religious traditions and norms can
justify kidnapping or killing of a human being.
‘Any references
to “traditions” to justify kidnappings and killings are amoral and criminal.
Adding: ‘The
Russian LGBT Network is ready to evacuate people.’
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