Ken Livingstone has used the second day of the M4 meeting between the mayors of Berlin, London, Moscow and Paris to condemn attacks on gay rights across Eastern Europe including in Russia.
The Mayor of Moscow has previously been quoted as saying homosexuality is ‘satanic’. In Poland the Prime Minister has claimed “the affirmation of homosexuality will lead to the downfall of civilization.”
Mr Livingstone said he was speaking out against these attacks in order to “assert the basic human and civil right of gays and lesbians to peacefully demonstrate.”
Noting recent comments by the Russian Government that blanket bans on Gay Pride marches are unacceptable the Mayor said the right to demonstrate and protest “must be implemented in practice.”
This is the third meeting between the four Mayors which are held to discuss the key challenges facing their respective cities – the previous meetings were held in Moscow and Berlin. The Mayor of Beijing was a guest at this year’s meeting.
