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Moscow Court Arrests Clubgoers Following Anti-LGBTQ+ Police Raids

Guests queue outside the entrance to Arma nightclub, formerly Mutabor. Mikhail Tereshchenko / TASS

The Lefortovo District Court in Moscow has arrested seven people for administrative offenses following this weekend’s police raids on nightclubs in the capital, the city court press service reported on Tuesday.

All seven were found guilty of petty hooliganism for “disrupting public order” at the Arma nightclub (formerly Mutabor) and “disrespect for society, accompanied by obscene language in a public place."

The press service did not disclose the exact duration of the administrative detentions. Independent news website Mediazona reported that some clubgoers were arrested for up to 15 days, according to the court's website.

According to the state-run TASS news agency, five others were arrested on similar charges after police in Moscow raided multiple clubs, including Inferno Night, Simach and the popular Mono gay club, early Saturday “as part of measures to combat LGBT propaganda.”

Footage circulated on social media showed clubgoers sitting on the dancefloor while riot police walked around shouting orders.

According to a source who spoke to the investigative news outlet Vyorstka, visitors at Mono were handed military draft notices.

The raids came on the one-year anniversary of Russia’s Supreme Court outlawing the “international LGBT movement.”

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