Arrests outside court as Pussy Riot supporters clash with churchgoers

MORE than 20 demonstrators were arrested yesterday outside a Moscow court which was ruling on whether to extend the detention of three punk rockers who protested against newly elected president Vladimir Putin.

Five members of the band Pussy Riot – wearing homemade ski masks and miniskirts – seized the pulpit of Moscow’s Orthodox Christ the Saviour Cathedral in February and chanted “Mother Mary, drive Putin away” two weeks before Russia’s presidential vote.

Maria Alekhina, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Yekaterina Samutsevich face up to seven years’ jail on charges of hooliganism.

More than 100 supporters rallied at Targansky court as they arrived but clashed with Orthodox activists who threw eggs at them.