NEWS

Russia: Pussy Riot members attacked with green paint

Russia: Pussy Riot members attacked with green paint

Two members of the Russian protest group Pussy Riot were attacked by a group of men who poured rubbish and bright green paint over them and shouted obscenities at them at a McDonald’s restaurant.

An online video, uploaded by the group on Thursday, shows at least three men attacking Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina, shouting “(Go) to America!” and shooting paint into their faces from syringes in the city of Nizhny Novgorod.

It hurts! Why are you doing this?” Ms. Tolokonnikova says, with green stains on her face and hands. “You don’t have the right to hurt me. Please don’t do that to anyone anymore.”

Ms. Alyokhina said she suffered head injuries and Ms. Tolokonnikova had chemical burns. The men were patriotic symbols - so-called St George ribbons which commemorate the victory over Nazi Germany in World War Two.

Ms. Tolokonnikova and Ms. Alyokhina spent nearly two years in prison for performing a “punk prayer” in a protest against President Vladimir Putin in a Russian Orthodox church in Moscow.