Liverpool protest over Pussy Riot |
Wednesday, 22 August 2012 08:00 | |||
News from Nowhere bookshop hosts readings by staff before customers join in reciting the band's Moscow cathedral prayer The sentencing in Moscow of three members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot - Maria Alyokhina, 24, Yekaterina Samutsevich, 30, and Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22 – to two years in a penal colony after being found guilty of "hooliganism motivated by religious hatred" provoked protests around the world, and Liverpool has been no exception. The sentencing followed an incident in which the band performed a protest prayer in the Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in the Russian capital, calling on the Virgin Mary to 'chase Putin out'. Russian President Vladimir Putin has come under widespread criticism after the sentencing. In Liverpool, News From Nowhere, the radical, feminist and community bookshop on Bold Street, was the venue for a reading of defence statements by the trio, in which they denied being motivated by hostility to religion, but said they wished to highlight links between the Russian Orthodox Church's leadership and the Putin regime. The readings were performed by two members of the staff and a friend, who wore the band's trademark balaclavas. Staff and customers joined in reciting a translation of the prayer which Pussy Riot had performed in the cathedral. Sal, one of the staff of the bookshop, which is both a women's collective and a workers' co-op, said:
She added:
News from Nowhere is a doughty survivor of the heyday of 'alternative bookshops' in the early 1970s. You can read a summary of its history here. They are on Facebook here. guardian.co.uk © 2012 Guardian News and Media Limited or its affiliated companies. All rights reserved. | Use of this content is subject to our Terms & Conditions | More Feeds
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