Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina among those held for several hours before being released without charge
It was perhaps the most eagerly attended press conference of the Winter Olympics so far, and there was not a single Norwegian curler or Jamaican bobsleigh competitor in sight.
Emerging out on to the steps of a police station a few miles from the gleaming venues in the coastal cluster of the Sochi Games, the five women pulled on brightly coloured balaclavas and began singing their new song, Putin Will Teach You to Love the Motherland, as they were enveloped by a media crush. Among them were Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, released from prison in December after serving the majority of a two-year sentence for their lyrical protest in a Moscow cathedral.
The members of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot have an uncanny knack of exciting the world's media, and in Sochi they were given a helping hand by the authorities. The women had been keeping a low profile since arriving in the Olympic city on Sunday, apparently to film clips for a new protest song. But when they were arrested on Tuesday, they live-tweeted their ordeal, leading to a media scrum outside the police station.
The arrest charges were based on claims that a woman's handbag had been stolen from the hotel where the group was staying, and led to its members being bundled into a police van. The charges were dropped, and the women freed. It was unclear what purpose the arrest had served except to bring attention to the fact that Pussy Riot were in town.
Their lawyer, Alexander Popkov, sighed as he watched the scrum of journalists barrel down the hill in pursuit of his clients, with frustrated motorists beeping their horns as they tried to pass the crowd.
"Our authorities have this amazing ability to organise a scandal," he said. "If they hadn't arrested them, there would have been none of this crazy media attention."
"At the moment this city is under occupation, under police control," said Tolokonnikova, wearing a bright blue balaclava. She said she and other members of Pussy Riot had been constantly tailed since arriving in Sochi on Sunday.
"We are always followed by a crowd of people – not journalists, but people who are following us and track our every move, and look for any excuse to detain us."
The 24-year-old said she believed they were detained to prevent them from carrying out a political protest. Special laws have been introduced in Sochi during the Olympics that make a one-person picket, allowed under the Russian constitution, illegal without permission.
"We were simply walking around Sochi when they grabbed us," said Tolokonnikova by phone from the police station during her detention. She later said she had been roughly treated while detained, including being dragged along the floor face down.
It was unclear whether the three other women arrested were original or new members of Pussy Riot. This month some of the original members released a statement – using pseudonyms – criticising the media activity of Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina since their release. The statement said the pair were no longer members of the group. But Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina claim they still represent Pussy Riot, which has always been more of an underground collective than a band.
The pair – who were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" for their protest performance in Moscow's main cathedral – were freed from prison at the end of last year under a wide-ranging amnesty approved by Vladimir Putin that was seen as an attempt to boost Russia's image ahead of the Olympics.
For the first week of the Games in the Black Sea resort, protests were muted and the focus was on the sport, but Pussy Riot have said they want to bring attention to the "huge corruption" around the Olympics.
"We love Olympic Sochi," said one of the women in balaclavas. "We have met a lot of people, and almost all of them have been in uniform."
Four others have been detained in past two days, including David Khakim, who was sentenced to 30 hours community service on Monday by a Sochi court for holding a one-man protest in support of Evgeny Vitishko, a jailed environmentalist. Vitishko was sentenced to three years for vandalising a fence, in a case that activists say is linked to his criticism of environmental violations during Olympic construction.
After giving interviews and several renditions of their new song, the women wriggled free from the media scrum and broke into a sprint through the backstreets near the courthouse. They eventually reached the main road and jumped into a pair of waiting taxis.
Before they sped off, Tolokonnikova shouted at her husband from the window: "Petya! We forgot the guitar in the police station! Go and get it!"
With that, they were off, having executed another set-piece designed to attract maximum attention and cause maximum irritation for the authorities. Reported by guardian.co.uk 14 hours ago.
It was perhaps the most eagerly attended press conference of the Winter Olympics so far, and there was not a single Norwegian curler or Jamaican bobsleigh competitor in sight.
Emerging out on to the steps of a police station a few miles from the gleaming venues in the coastal cluster of the Sochi Games, the five women pulled on brightly coloured balaclavas and began singing their new song, Putin Will Teach You to Love the Motherland, as they were enveloped by a media crush. Among them were Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, released from prison in December after serving the majority of a two-year sentence for their lyrical protest in a Moscow cathedral.
The members of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot have an uncanny knack of exciting the world's media, and in Sochi they were given a helping hand by the authorities. The women had been keeping a low profile since arriving in the Olympic city on Sunday, apparently to film clips for a new protest song. But when they were arrested on Tuesday, they live-tweeted their ordeal, leading to a media scrum outside the police station.
The arrest charges were based on claims that a woman's handbag had been stolen from the hotel where the group was staying, and led to its members being bundled into a police van. The charges were dropped, and the women freed. It was unclear what purpose the arrest had served except to bring attention to the fact that Pussy Riot were in town.
Their lawyer, Alexander Popkov, sighed as he watched the scrum of journalists barrel down the hill in pursuit of his clients, with frustrated motorists beeping their horns as they tried to pass the crowd.
"Our authorities have this amazing ability to organise a scandal," he said. "If they hadn't arrested them, there would have been none of this crazy media attention."
"At the moment this city is under occupation, under police control," said Tolokonnikova, wearing a bright blue balaclava. She said she and other members of Pussy Riot had been constantly tailed since arriving in Sochi on Sunday.
"We are always followed by a crowd of people – not journalists, but people who are following us and track our every move, and look for any excuse to detain us."
The 24-year-old said she believed they were detained to prevent them from carrying out a political protest. Special laws have been introduced in Sochi during the Olympics that make a one-person picket, allowed under the Russian constitution, illegal without permission.
"We were simply walking around Sochi when they grabbed us," said Tolokonnikova by phone from the police station during her detention. She later said she had been roughly treated while detained, including being dragged along the floor face down.
It was unclear whether the three other women arrested were original or new members of Pussy Riot. This month some of the original members released a statement – using pseudonyms – criticising the media activity of Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina since their release. The statement said the pair were no longer members of the group. But Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina claim they still represent Pussy Riot, which has always been more of an underground collective than a band.
The pair – who were convicted of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" for their protest performance in Moscow's main cathedral – were freed from prison at the end of last year under a wide-ranging amnesty approved by Vladimir Putin that was seen as an attempt to boost Russia's image ahead of the Olympics.
For the first week of the Games in the Black Sea resort, protests were muted and the focus was on the sport, but Pussy Riot have said they want to bring attention to the "huge corruption" around the Olympics.
"We love Olympic Sochi," said one of the women in balaclavas. "We have met a lot of people, and almost all of them have been in uniform."
Four others have been detained in past two days, including David Khakim, who was sentenced to 30 hours community service on Monday by a Sochi court for holding a one-man protest in support of Evgeny Vitishko, a jailed environmentalist. Vitishko was sentenced to three years for vandalising a fence, in a case that activists say is linked to his criticism of environmental violations during Olympic construction.
After giving interviews and several renditions of their new song, the women wriggled free from the media scrum and broke into a sprint through the backstreets near the courthouse. They eventually reached the main road and jumped into a pair of waiting taxis.
Before they sped off, Tolokonnikova shouted at her husband from the window: "Petya! We forgot the guitar in the police station! Go and get it!"
With that, they were off, having executed another set-piece designed to attract maximum attention and cause maximum irritation for the authorities. Reported by guardian.co.uk 14 hours ago.