Russia breaks up Pussy Riot protest outside church

The demonstration near the Cathedral of Christ the Savior in support of the Pussy Riot punk group participants, to be sentenced the coming Friday on charges of hooliganism, was brutally broken up, as a clash had erupted between the temple guards and the demonstrators. Twitter users say there were about 20 protestors who wore multicolored balaclavas. The protesters, wearing the group’s trademark colored balaclavas, were holding individual letters that spelled the phrase “Blessed are the merciful” in front of the temple’s porch. These words are part of a beatitude commandment which, according to St. Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus Christ pronounced in the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.” The church clergymen and guards tried to discontinue the protest by entering into a clash with the activists and journalists. They twisted the arms of some protestors and hindered the work of journalists in any possible way in spite of many claims that their actions were unlawful. They became quiet only when the police came on call from the demonstrators.