Pussy Riot Protestors Arrested During World Cup Final For Charging Onto Field

Four members of the punk activist group, Pussy Riot, have been charged with “administrative offenses” by Russian authorities for a demonstration during the second half of the World Cup Final match.

Three women and a man, identified as Nika Nikulshina, Olga Kurachyova, Olga Pakhtusova and Pyotr Verzilov, were dressed in police-style uniform, protesting human rights in Russia.

Following the demonstration, the group released a statement to outline their demands from Russian authorities, which included freeing all political prisoners, stopping illegal arrests at public rallies, allowing political competition and ending falsified criminal cases and jailing at random.

They were on the pitch for about 25 seconds before being removed by stewards. Additionally, Croatian defender Dejan Lovren angrily grabbed the male intruder, later telling reporters, “I just lost my head and I grabbed the guy and I wished I could throw him away from the stadium.”

One woman was able to receive a two-handed high five from French soccer player Kylian Mbappé.

The maximum of the fines is 10,000 roubles (£121; $161) and 1,500 roubles, respectively, according to BBC. The group could also face up to 160 hours of community service.

 

Nonetheless, this isn’t the group’s first notable demonstration against President Vladimir Putin, who watched the incident go down from his VIP box in the 81,000 stadium. In 2012, they performed an anti-Putin song in a Moscow cathedral, for which three members were jailed for.

The group also violated “spectators’ rights” by storming the field and were illegally donning police symbols, in an effort to criticize Russian authorities.

The activists were detained overnight with reportedly nowhere to sleep nor given anything to eat. Their cases are now being heard at Khamovnichesky court.

France ended up winning the game 4-2, becoming the World Cup champions.