MOSCOW, January 22 (Itar-Tass) — Gay activists, who came to the Duma building to challenge a bill that bans advocating homosexual relations, have clashed with their opponents outside the Duma building in Georgiyevsky by-street. Several gay activists received bruises in the clashes, Itar-Tass reported on Tuesday.
There were no police on the site. Duma security guards did not interfere either. MP Nikolai Valuyev, a famous boxer in the past, had been watching the incident for a couple of minutes. The MP came out of the Duma building to meet people whom he had been waiting for and became an unintentional witness of the incident. There was a shadow of a smile on his face as he watched the incident, but in a couple of minutes the MP went inside the Duma building, closing the door behind him.
Representatives of the warring sides have been staying on the site after the clashes subsided. Numerous journalists have been sending reports about the incident from the scene.
Last March deputies of the Novosibirsk regional Legislative Assembly submitted a bill to the State Duma, demanding to administer fines for advocating homosexual relations among children. The bill envisages fines worth 4,000-5,000 roubles for ordinary citizens, 40,000-50,000 roubles for senior officials, 400,000-500,000 roubles for juridical entities. The State Duma has not discussed the proposed bill yet.