Watch: Kiev ‘two men hold hands’ experiment ends in neo-Nazi attack
By Will Stroude
The ‘two men hold hands’ experiment has been done around the world many times over, but two men who tried to recreate the stunt on the streets of Kiev have fallen victim to a neo-Nazi gang attack.
Earlier this month, the world was shocked to see the scale of abuse leveled at two men holding hands on the streets of Moscow, so Zoryan Kis and Tymur Levchuk repeated the same experiment in the Ukrainian capital for Bird In Flight magazine.
Unlike the Moscow experiment, the pair actually attracted little attention on the streets of Kiev, except a few giggles or odd looks. Saying they decided to be a “little more provocative”, Tymur then sat on Zoryan’s lap with a bouquet of flowers. What happens next is shocking.
“We wanted to know how people would react to that,” Zoryan next.
“We were approached by a gang of 10 or 15 neo-Nazi or extreme right-wing men. They asked us whether we wanted our nation to be above all other nations; to be the best.
“To that we replied that we had slightly different understanding of patriotism. We told them that we are Ukrainians and wanted everyone inn this country to be able to be themselves.”
One of the men can be heard saying “You’re in trouble”, while another adds: “It looks like they’re fucking mistaking this place for America”.
The gang proceed to spray Zoryan and Tymur in the face with pepper spray, rendering them helpless as the group proceeded to beat them, before passers-by eventually helped chase them off.
Zoryan concluded by saying that while there might be a vocal minority of anti-gay extremists in Ukraine, he was seeking comfort in the fact that pair drew little attention from most of the public, describing it as a “step forward”.
Watch the shocking footage below. (Warning: contains violent imagery)
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