Moscow:
Three members of a well-known Russian metal band – Korrozia Metalla – were arrested in the middle of a concert on Saturday and charged with displaying “Nazi symbols,” authorities said.
The three band members, aged 19, 42 and 57, are charged with “propaganda or public display of Nazi paraphernalia or symbols,” regional police in the western city of Nijni-Novgorod said.
“Police officers, with the support of the National Guard, arrested three members of a music band in one of the clubs of Nijni-Novgorod,” police added in a statement.
The crime is usually punishable by a fine or a short period of administrative detention.
Police said they had seized T-shirts and books “bearing banned symbols.”
Band leader Maria Rounova told state news agency TASS that the motifs in question are “old Slavic symbols.”
Footage shared on social media shows security forces storming into the concert hall and forcing spectators to lie on the ground.
Since Russia stoked the conflict in Ukraine more than two years ago, Moscow has cracked down on dissent, putting increasing pressure on free speech.
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