Members of Russian protest punk group Pussy Riot were beaten by horse whip-wielding Cossacks when they performed next to the Olympic rings in front of Sochi City Hall on February 19. With balaclavas covering their heads, the band shouted: "Putin will teach you how to love the motherland!" in a tongue-in-cheek show that saw them joined by a person dressed as an Olympic mascot to make the performance more sarcastic.
The gig was up three minutes later when Cossacks and security officials showed up. They pepper sprayed and whipped band members, pulled off their masks and threw a plastic guitar in a garbage can. A man in bright yellow tank top was beaten and was bleeding from his face. Witnesses were questioned, but no one was arrested.
The incident happened a day after the group members Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina were detained by police for hours on charges of theft in Sochi.
The governor of Krasnodar region, in which Sochi is located, said a "thorough probe" into the incident would be conducted. According to Interfax, Pussy Riot is not widely supported by the people in Krasnodar.
With Putin is using this, the most expensive Winter Games ever, to burnish his image, more anti-government actions are expected in the following days, according to the Associated Press.
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