Well the last few days since I last wrote have been busy. I have shot three more events and taken a trip into the country.

On Friday I covered two events that were part of a larger protest being made by gay rights activists. The first part of the event was a picket at the Ministry of Health building to protest the ministry’s rule that gay men can not donate blood. It’s a familiar argument to one gay rights groups are making in the US.

This particular protest was banned but the activists proceeded to the ministry anyway. They were stopped by the police and arrested. There were only about seven protesters total. We had been told there would be 25 or so.

One positive outcome for this was that I was without an interpreter that day and so I asked another journalist, Dimitri, a videographer, if he spoke English. It turns out not only did he but that he works for AP and now my friend Mansur. I ended up catching a ride with him to the next event (which I originally did not plan on making because I could not figure out where it was).

The second event was part two of the gay rights protest. Here the leader of the gay rights group, Nikolai Alexeyev tried to give blood at a blood donation center. He was barred at the door.

After this I went with Dimitri back to the APTN office. He showed me around and introduced me to the bureau chief. He also helped me get some more contacts with the youth groups. Later we had lunch with one of the producers who said he would keep an eye open for any interesting developments. It turned out to be a very productive afternoon.

The next day Sergey and I got up early to head out to the very outskirts of Moscow for an action that was being conducted by a social group called Mestnye. They were combating illegal immigration by posing as employers and going to a immigrants gather to looking for work. They would then take these men to a small road off the main highway were Immigration Control officers were waiting to take them into custody.

It’s hard to determine the political motivations of this group. I have yet to determine if they are more like the US minutemen that patrol the Mexico/US border or actually concerned citizens who are trying to combat a rampant case of indentured servitude. I need to do more research on this problem.

To cap off the weekend Sunday Sergey’s friend Maxim drove us into the country to a town called Pereslavl. This is a very old town that has its roots in 12th century Russia. There is a small cathedral there that dates from that time. The towns most famous native was Alexander Nevsky the Grand Prince of Novgorod. The area’s other claim to fame is that on Lake Pleshcheyevo where the town is located Peter the Great started the Russian Navy.

Tags: youth groups · journalism · Moscow