Police comment on disruption of LGBT film screening: ‘People expressed their view, no crime’

Дата: 24 October 2016
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The police claim they see no signs of a criminal offense in the actions of radical representatives of the Right Sector movement and the Azov battalion, who disrupted screening of the film about the LGBT community.

Head of the preventive activity department of the National Police department in Chernivtsi region Sviatoslav Kishlar said this at the round-table meeting, the Chernivtsi Promin local newspaper reports.

We had no right to restrict or prohibit the entrance to the premises as that was an open event. People came and expressed their view. We saw no signs of a criminal offense. After a dispute had been over, people went away and the police officers went to perform their duties, i.e. to secure order in Chernivtsi city,” he said.

As for beating of two visitors of the art center, where the scandalous movie had been screened, Sviatoslav Kishlar added that the aggrieved people refused to write any statements at the police department, and the police cannot open criminal proceedings at their own initiative.

In response, one of the LGBT activists Kristina Bakhur showed a video where it can be seen how the radicals block the projector, while the police officers do not react. The video also shows how one of the radicals explains something to the patrol police officers and they let few more people in masks enter the premises.

Acting chief of the patrol police of Chernivtsi city Pavlo Semeniuk admitted that the patrol officers had not been right in that situation.

However, we should understand that there were 40-50 young people in the premises, and only ten patrol police officers. And I’m not ready to say what would happen if we started to detain them. We had no experience in response during such events and we were not ready,” the patrol policeman said.

As reported, unknown men, who had chevrons of the Right Sector movement and the Azov battalion on their clothes, disrupted screening of This Is Gay Propaganda documentary about the events of the Revolution of Dignity and the war in the context of the LGBT community, which was to be held in Chernivtsi city on October 18.

The men also wore the rubber gloves. One of their leaders said they would not allow such screenings, adding there had been no LGBT people among Maidan activists or servicepersons. He added that if the screening organizers decided to hold another LGBT event, then “you will lie down here.”

As LGBT activist, chairwoman of the NGO “Insight” Olena Shevchenko wrote on her Facebook, the police did nothing to stop the lawlessness.

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