Three people who took part in an unsanctioned gay rally on Moscow’s Red Square were detained on Thursday night, police said.
“Three individuals were detained and taken to a police station,” a police spokesman said, adding that after protocols were drawn up, they were released.
Former Moscow mayor Yury Luzhkov, who was in power for 18 years before being sacked by President Dmitry Medvedev in September 2010, described gay parades as "satanic."
The new mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, said he was also not in favor of the idea to hold gay parades in Moscow.
Activists who have tried to march in Moscow without permission have come under attack from hardcore nationalists and religious groups, or have been set upon by police.
