Kharkov, May 10, 2011
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The protest was to take place outside the Academic Ballet and Opera Theater in Kharkov, where the Russian Patriarchate was honoring Metropolitan Nicodim of Kharkov and Bogodukhov, on the occasion of his 90th birthday. The Patriarch was met at the theater by thousands of Orthodox faithful.
As press agent of the Kharkov Orthodox social organization, “Rus Triedinaya” (Rus’ Three in One), Sergei Moyesevev, reported, when the people who had gathered to meet the Patriarch heard of Svoboda’s intention to stage a mockery, members of a local military-sport group were called in to prevent it.
When the group arrived, however, they found the situation already under control. Ordinary Orthodox babushkas (grandmothers) had torn up the protesters’ signs, and the remaining two or three sympathizers had retreated at the appearance of the police.