Russian Militia Attack Pussy Riot With Whips

Just one day after Russian punk-rock protest group Pussy Riot were detained by police for four hours, six members of Pussy Riot were attacked by Russian Cossacks in a public space Wednesday. Cossacks, which are neither police nor military but a kind of militia deployed to patrol Sochi for the duration of the Winter Olympics, pushed five women and one man to the ground and whipped them, spraying pepper spray at the group. The violence was captured on camera, and shows the Cossacks advancing on Pussy Riot as the group prepared a protest performance against Vladimir Putin.

Pussy Riot regard Vladimir Putin as a dictator, and some of its 11 members been previously jailed in Russia before receiving an early release. They've sworn to use the Winter Olympics as a platform of protesting against Putin, and two members were detained Tuesday, allegedly for questioning about a theft in their hotel. Pussy Riot strong and vocal opponents of Putin's anti-"gay propaganda" law, which is a year old and bans any kind of homosexual relations that could be seen by minors.

Russia has also banned protests of any sort in and around Sochi, a decree signed in by Putin six months ago. Violence against LBGT Russians is, unfortunately, far from rare. To name one example, a barbaric group named Occupy Pedophilia operates by regularly kidnapping and torturing gay Russians, and their actions are largely overlooked by Russian police.

Here's footage of Pussy Riot being attacked by Cossacks. Warning: violent content.

Image: The Telegraph/Youtube