Russian Artist Sets Fire to Former KGB Headquarters

[jpak]

Source: ABC News

A radical Russian artist has set fire to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) headquarters as part of what he said was a piece of political performance art.

On Sunday night, the artist, Pyotr Pavlensky, walked up to the front entrance of Lubyanka, the hulking building in central Moscow that was once home to the Soviet KGB, poured gasoline over the doors and lit them ablaze.

A video released by Pavlensky showed orange flames filling the building’s entranceway and crawling up the doors. In a statement published with the video, Pavlensky named the act “Threat” and said it was meant to protest what he called the methods of terror used by the FSB to control Russian society.

Police quickly arrested Pavlensky, as he stood arms folded, with his back to the fire. Two journalists filming the piece were also arrested with him. Pavlensky has been charged with minor hooliganism, his lawyer told the Russian news agency Interfax.

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Read more: http://abcnews.go.com/International/russian-artist-sets-fire-kgb-headquarters/story?id=35076038

[PosterChild]

1. Wow, I hope his 1st amendment rights are respected.....

... oh, wait... Russia ? No 1st amendment ? Oh well .

[jtuck004]

4. I wonder how many bullets, in pounds, would be fired at a performance artist

who tried to firebomb one of our federal police agencies? Dead wouldn't even begin to describe it.

Then his life would be combed through and neighbors would throw bottles at his relatives and kids, since he was a terrorist.

Rights. lol.

[PosterChild]

6. Well there was that guy who flew onto the mall, and,..

.... then that fellow who flew a drone onto the white house lawn. And, just thinking out loud, the guy who made it over the fence and into the white house.

My favorite band, by the way was Pussy Riot. I was so diapointed when they broke up.

But seriously , my post wasn't serrious . Lighten up!

[jtuck004]

8. I'm as light as a feather, and birdman didn't throw a Molotov on the big white building. Was

pre-announced, btw. A little less dramatic that way.

[MattSh]

14. Yeah, everybody's HEARD of Pussy Riot, but

can anybody actually name a song by them?

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

That's not many, not many. Wasn't much of a "band" now, were they?

[PosterChild]

15. Can't name that song, ....

...but the tune keeps going through my head.... the beat (ings) goes on!

[JackRiddler]

10. Have you read the Russian constitution?

Do you think someone who did this here would be charged with "minor hooliganism"?

Ah the illusions we entertain!

[PosterChild]

11. Lighten up, Francis ...

[PosterChild]

16. In other news....

Top Russian athletes participated in systemic, state-sanctioned doping, report says

http://wapo.st/1kG6mCZ

OMG! Illusions !

[PersonNumber503602]

18. I don't think many countries would consider setting buildings on fire to be freedom of speech

[irisblue]

2. From the article

Dude is blessed that he is alive today

SNIP

Lubyanka is still a byword in Russia for terror and political repression, known as a place where under Stalin thousands of people were tortured and executed. The FSB now inhabits the building, a fact some Russians view as symbolic of a unbroken repressive lineage between modern Russia’s security services and the Soviet secret police. Russian security agencies still play a key role in running the political trials that are brought against those critical of Vladimir Putin’s rule.


SNIP
“The Federal Security Service acts with methods of uninterrupted terror. Terror transforms free people into a sticky mass of isolated bodies,” Pavlensky wrote in his statement. “The threat of inevitable retribution hangs over everyone who finds themselves within the reach of surveillance, of having their conversations eavesdropped on, and at the borders of passport control. ”

Pavlensky is known for his extreme performances, the most famous of which saw him nail his scrotum to the paving stones of Red Square in front of the Kremlin. In 2012, he sewed his mouth shut to protest the trial of Russian punk activists, Pussy Riot, and in 2014, he cut off part of his ear on top of a psychiatric institution to highlight what he said was the use of forced psychiatric treatment as a political punishment.

[treestar]

3. Pussy Riot was what I immediately thought of

[PosterChild]

7. My fave ...

Hillary Clinton poses with Pussy Riot
http://wapo.st/1gEBU2N

[treestar]

9. Neat!

[wordpix]

12. Lovely pic of Hilary + Pussy Riot ---Hil is having fun

[bananas]

17. Pussy Riot and Greenpeace - bunch of hooligans!

Russia Drops Piracy Claims Vs Greenpeace Activists
... and charged them with hooliganism instead.
... The move follows a comment by President Vladimir Putin, who said last month that he doesn't think the Greenpeace activists are pirates.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014629172

Royal Court plans Pussy Riot readings on day of trial verdict
... part of a global day of action
http://www.democraticunderground.com/1014192569

Russian court imprisons Pussy Riot band members on hooliganism charges
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1014&pid=629257

[wordpix]

13. not sure if he's abusing his body to get attn for the cause or

b/c he's batshit crazy.

[PeoViejo]

5. "what does he look like?"

"Serious."