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"We witnessed a high level of fraternisation and collusion between neo-Nazis and the Moscow police. I saw neo-Nazis leave and re-enter police buses parked on Tverskaya Street by City Hall. Our suspicion is that many of the neo-Nazis were actually plainclothes police officers, who did to us what their uniformed colleagues dared not do in front of the world’s media. Either that, or the police were actively facilitating the right-wing extremists with transport to the protest.

"During the Second World War, Mucovites stood against the Nazis. Now the Mayor of Moscow is colluding with neo-Nazis. He gave the neo-Nazi groups permission to stage a protest calling for violence against gay people, while denying Moscow Gay Pride a permit to rally for gay equality." - Famed British activist Peter Tatchell, reporting from yesterday's demonstration in Moscow.

The winning nation of the Eurovision Song Contest gets to host the event the following year, with gay fans of the contest often comprising one of the largest groups of tourists in attendance. Today noted British LGBT activist Peter Tatchell warns that this year's Eurovision winner, Azerbaijan, is an unsafe destination for gay people.

"Azerbaijan is not a welcoming or safe country for LGBT people. Although homosexuality was decriminalised in 2001, the LGBT community suffers police harassment and brutality, including bashings, blackmail, intimidation, bribery and invasions of privacy. LGBT people risk eviction from their homes and dismissal from their jobs. They have no legal protection against discrimination. Homophobic prejudice, threats and violence are systemic problems. The Eurovision organisers must seek guarantees from the Azerbaijani government that it will respect human rights, that visitors to next year's competition will not be victimised and that domestic and foreign media covering the event will be able to report freely, without harassment."