Balaclava is a knitted stocking cap with a slit for the eyes and nose, which was originally used to protect from adverse external conditions (frost, sand storms, etc.). However, in our time, modernized balaclavas are often worn by those who have a reason to hide their faces. Members of the female punk band Pussy Riot had such an occasion, and after the start of the process, a hat with a slit became a symbol of protest against bringing girls to criminal liability.
The feminist punk rock band Pussy Riot appeared in 2011 and became famous thanks to public actions, which each time were organized in a rather provocative format. For example, girls in balaclavas performed their works on the roof of a trolleybus, on scaffolding, in the Moscow metro, etc. In March 2012, three participants in the next rally - a "punk prayer" in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior - were arrested. If we consider success as the resonance that the trial of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alekhina and Ekaterina Samutsevich received, then the promotion of the group is more than successful - even Madonna says at the time of the verdict on Pussy Riot. And the protesters against the verdict prepared a special action for the day of its announcement - put balaclavas on several monuments.
On August 17, 2012, supporters of the group, whose name in Russian sounds like “Riot Vagin, ” put yellow caps with slots on the monument to Alexander Pushkin and Natalia Goncharova on Old Arbat. Monuments to Mikhail Lomonosov near Moscow State University - he got the green balaclava - and Abai Kunanbaev on Chistoprudny Boulevard (orange) also took part in the fight against the arbitrariness of the authorities. But the bronze partisans at the Belorusskaya-Koltsevaya metro station did not manage to do this. The activist, who was pulling the balaclava on them, along with photographers who were supposed to capture the result, were detained and handed over to the police by some non-advanced passengers. Of course, all this activity of Pussy Riot supporters was covered on the Internet and found a response among supporters both in Russia and abroad. For example, in Bulgarian Sofia, colored stockings were pulled over the heads of soldiers of the monument to soldiers of the Soviet Army, and a huge inscription “Respect Pussy Riot” appeared on the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Pskov.
