Filed under:
The spirit of Pussy Riot rallies the crowd in New York
Madonna introduced Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina on Wednesday night. The women, who were recently released in prison for protesting in a cathedral, spoke about conditions political prisoners face in Russia.
-
Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 24, and Maria Alyokhina, 25, at a press conference. The women spent 21 months in prison after singing a punk song in Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior as part of a demonstration by the feminist collective Pussy Riot.
-
Lediona Zharku, Elona Zharku, and Fiona Arifi, all 14, volunteer for Amnesty International. They're excited to see Imagine Dragons but haven't heard much about Pussy Riot. "I think they're Russian?" Elona says. "They went to jail because they rebelled against society," Lediona says.
-
Members of the Russian-Speaking American LGBT Association, also known as RUSA LGBT, show support for Pussy Riot outside the show. The next morning, they held a protest at the Russian consulate to draw attention to laws that criminalize homosexuality.
-
A Vladimir Putin supporter stands outside shouting, "Putin, yes! Pussy Riot, no!" He noted that the Russian president has sheltered Edward Snowden, and expressed frustration that the US government encourages fear of Russia and China.
-
Imagine Dragons played a short set, as did Lauryn Hill, The Fray, Blondie, Cake, Wayne Coyne of The Flaming Lips, and others.
-
Blondie pumped up the crowd with a three-song set that opened with "One Way or Another" and closed with "Call Me."
-
Pussy Riot has become fragmented after three of its members were outed, and the collective says Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina are no longer members. Amnesty International still showed this video of two women in bright dresses and balaclavas, the uniform of Pussy Riot.
-
Madonna introduced the two activists and encouraged the audience to boo Putin. She played a show in St. Petersburg shortly after the Pussy Riot arrest and her show was condemned as a "gay show," 87 attendees were arrested for "displaying gay behavior," and she herself was sued for $1 million.
-
Alyokhina and Tolokonnikova did not perform, instead reading statements from political prisoners who were arrested during a demonstration in May of 2012, who are set to be sentenced this month.
