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Gay protester detained at torch relay
Russia Sochi Torch Re Heal WEB
In this photo provided by Olympictorch2014.com, torch bearers pose with Olympic torches during the Olympic torch relay in Yelets, some 380 kilometers (237.5 miles) south of Moscow on Tuesday. The 65,000-kilometer (40,389 mile) Sochi torch relay, which started on Oct. 7, is the longest in Olympic history. The torch has traveled to the North Pole on a Russian nuclear-powered icebreaker and has even been flown into space. - photo by Associated Press
MOSCOW — A gay Russian protester was detained on Saturday for unfurling a rainbow flag during the Olympic torch relay as it passed through his hometown of Voronezh, 560 miles (910 kilometers) north of Sochi, where the games will begin Feb. 7. Photos uploaded by his friends show Pavel Lebedev pulling out the flag and then being detained by Olympic security personnel, who wrestle him to the snow as they wait for police to arrive. Lebedev, reached by The Associated Press on the phone, said he was still in the police station and undergoing questioning.