Peaceful, maybe, but gay protests/parades are often obscene and illegal on several counts. But I don't condone unnecessary violence on the part of the police, either.
Fine. If individual protesters start violating the law then haul them away. Or if the protest organizers make it clear that they intend to violate the law during the course of the parade, shut it down on those grounds.
But it's wrong for the city to deny a peaceful protest because the city leaders disagree with the protester's message or lifestyle. That just seems like a basic principle for any society that wants to call itself "free".
It's very possible that the arrests really *were* for legitimate reasons and that this article slanted things because of a pro-gay bias. If that's the case then I support the Moscow authorities. But if this really was a case of a peaceful, lawful protest being shut down because of its message then I don't see how any FReeper could support it.
Guess the homosexual lobby discovered that too.
Those people are lucky to be alive.