News (USA)

Comedians build ‘gay bar’ on Russia-owned land in Finland

Comedians build ‘gay bar’ on Russia-owned land in Finland
Simon Gärdenfors
Simon Gärdenfors

HELSINKI (AP) — Two Swedish comedians say they built a reconstruction of the “Police Academy” gay bar on Russia-owned land in Finland to protest a Russian law that bans the spreading of “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations” to minors.

Finnish police say they are investigating “some kind of construction” on a Russia-owned seaside plot outside the village of Saltvik on the Aland archipelago in the Baltic Sea.

Comedians Simon Gardenfors and Frej Larsson said Wednesday the makeshift shack, meant to resemble The Blue Oyster bar from the 1984 film, was built last weekend.

Local media say Russia’s consul in the autonomous Baltic Sea archipelago filed a police complaint.

After two wars against the Soviet Union, Finland ceded territory to Moscow, including plots of land owned by Germany, in line with a peace treaty.

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