Pussy Riot members WHIPPED by Cossacks as they performed protest underneath a Sochi Olympics sign

Six group members were attacked as they danced under the sign today

One Cossack appeared to use pepper spray and another whipped group

Police arrived and questioned witnesses, but no-one was arrested



Armed with horsewhips and pepper spray, ten burly Cossacks were taking no chances as they tackled members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot to the ground in Sochi yesterday.



After all, they were facing the terrifying prospect of five unarmed women and one man strumming a guitar.



The band started to perform an anti-Putin song under a sign advertising the Winter Olympics. But singer Nadezhda Tolokonnikova was brutally whipped in the attack and the guitarist was left bloodied and bruised.



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Russian punk group Pussy Riot were attacked with horsewhips today by Cossack militia as they tried to perform under a sign advertising the Sochi Olympics

Six group members - five women and one man - donned their signature ski masks and were pulling out a guitar and microphone as at least 10 Cossacks and other security officials moved in

The incident lasted less than three minutes and one Pussy Riot member, a man wearing a bright yellow tank top, was left with blood on his face, saying he had been pushed to the ground

Miss Tolokonnikova, 24, and 25-year-old Maria Alyokhina were released from prison only two months ago after staging an anti-Kremlin protest in 2012. They slipped into Sochi over the weekend, and claim they have so far been beaten and arrested three times by police officers desperate to stop protests ruining the world’s image of the Games.

The band members donned their signature ski masks and were pulling out a guitar and microphone as at least 10 Cossacks and other security officials moved in.



One Cossack appeared to use pepper spray, another whipped several group members while others ripped off their masks and threw the guitar in a rubbish bin.

Police arrived and questioned witnesses, but no-one was arrested.



The Cossacks violently pulled masks from women's heads, beating group member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova with a whip as she lay on the ground.

The incident lasted less than three minutes and one Pussy Riot member, a man wearing a bright yellow tank top, was left with blood on his face, saying he had been pushed to the ground.



Pussy Riot, a performance-art collective involving a loose membership of feminists who edit their actions into music videos, has become an international flashpoint for those who contend Vladimir Putin's government has exceeded its authority, particularly restricting human and gay rights.



Nadezhda Tolokonnikova is pulled away by a Russian security officer. The group ran out of the restaurant wearing brightly colored clothes and ski masks and were immediately set upon by about a dozen Cossacks, who are used by police authorities in Russia to patrol the streets

The Cossacks violently pulled masks from women's heads, beating group member Nadezhda Tolokonnikova with a whip as she lay on the ground while right blood trickles down the face of a member of the punk group



The group gained international attention in 2012 after barging into Moscow's main cathedral and performing a 'punk prayer' in which they entreated the Virgin Mary to save Russia from Mr Putin, who was on the verge of returning to the Russian presidency for a third term.



Two members of the group, Ms Tolokonnikova and Maria Alekhina, were sentenced to two years in prison, but were released in December under an amnesty bill seen as a Kremlin effort to assuage critics before the Olympics.

On Tuesday, two members of the group were briefly detained in Sochi, but not arrested.

The group has called for a boycott of the Sochi Olympics and has insisted that any world leader coming to Sochi would be giving tacit approval of Mr Putin's heavy-handed policies.

A member of the punk group Pussy Riot lies on the ground. They only been performing for a few seconds when they were set upon by Cossacks

Maria Alekhina, second left, helps Nadezhda Tolokonnikova get up after they and other members of the punk group Pussy Riot are attacked by about a dozen Cossack militiamen

A photographer is whipped by a member of the Cossack militia while trying to photograph members of the punk group

On Tuesday, two members of the group were briefly detained in Sochi, but not arrested

The Cossacks have been used since last year as an auxiliary police force to patrol the streets in the Krasnodar province, which includes the Winter Olympic host city. Patrol leader Igor Gulichev compared his forces to the Texas Rangers, an elite law-enforcement body that has power throughout that state.

