In a bizarre example of Second Life leaking into the real world, a political assembly on Saturday led by chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov was disrupted by a flying penis.

Kasparov is a leader of the Other Russia movement, a loose coalition of activists opposing Vladamir Putin and the current Russian government. Over 700 people showed up for the event in central Moscow, but Kasparov’s speech was interrupted when a large phallus-shaped helicopter started buzzing around the room. The Moscow Times attributed the prank to “a couple of pro-Kremlin Young Russia activists.”

Warning: Mildly NSFW images and video follow.





Compare this incident to the Second Life prank from 2006, where a CNET interview with virtual real-estate magnate Anshe Chung was interrupted by fifteen minutes of flying penises, courtesy of a group of griefers called Room 101.





The big question: Did the pro-Kremlin activists controlling the penis helicopter know about their Second Life counterparts, or was this just griefer minds thinking alike?

Update: I found a translation, courtesy of Shusha from Metafilter. After the security guard swatted it to the ground, Kasparov says, “I think we have to be thankful for the opposition’s demonstration of the level of discourse we need to anticipate. Also, apparently most of their arguments are located beneath the belt.” Someone in the audience shouts, “Finally the political power shows its face!” Kasparov quickly replies, “Well, if that’s its face…” to laughter from the audience.