Pussy Riot whipped at Sochi Olympics by Cossack militia

Cossack militia members attacked six members of the punk protest group Pussy Riot with whips as they were preparing a performance near the site of the 2014 Winter Olympics.

The NY Daily News reports that the feminist collective were about to perform their protest song "Putin will teach you to love the motherland" beneath a sign advertising the Sochi Olympics when the security officials assaulted them.

The six members of Pussy Riot, including two who were recently released from jail, were attacked with whips, teargas, and pepper spray. They ripped off their signature balaclava masks and threw their guitar in the trash.

According to The Guardian, the group arrived in Sochi on Sunday and have been detained by government officials several times since, spending several hours in police detention, apparently under suspicion of stealing a woman's handbag.

Krasnodar region governor Alexander Tkachev promised to begin a "thorough probe" into the incident and to prosecute the attackers.

Two of the same protesters, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina, who were recently jailed for performing a "punk prayer" in a Moscow cathedral, performed another demonstration later in the day after being beaten by security forces, this time closer to the gates of the Winter Games. Police did not intervene with this second protest.

Image: Wikimedia Commons.

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