MOSCOW: Police in Moscow targeted multiple gay-friendly nightclubs and a men’s sauna in what appeared to be simultaneous raids, local media outlets said on Saturday.

The raids come two days after Russia’s Supreme Court labelled what it calls the “international LGBT movement” as “extremist”, in a move rights groups warned could precede a wider crackdown.

Police could be seen standing at the entrance of a nightclub on Malaya Yakimanka Street, where a large dance party was taking place, video from the Ostorozhno Novosti news outlet showed.

“In the middle of the party, they stopped the music and (police) began going into the lounges,” one eyewitness told the outlet, who said officers were taking photos of their passports.

At least three bars were targeted overnight by law enforcement, the SOTA news outlet reported, while Ostorozhno Novosti said a men’s sauna in central Moscow was also raided.

Late on Friday evening, St Petersburg’s “Central Station”, one of the oldest gay clubs in the city, announced it was closing due to the Supreme Court’s decision. Russia had already outlawed “LGBT propaganda” among all adults last year, effectively banning representation of LGBTQ people in public and in the media.

Published in Dawn, December 3rd, 2023