Ten percent of Russians see Manege attacks as justified

According to a recent survey, ten percent of Russians see the recent attacks upon Moscow’s Manege exhibition space as justified.

On 14 August, members of ultra-conservative group God’s Will vandalised sculptures at the Manege exhibition space, damaging several pieces in the Sculptures We Do Not See exhibition. The attack was led by self-proclaimed “missionary” Dmitry “Enteo” Tsorionov, who accuses the exhibition organisers of violating the Russian law that protects the feelings of religious believers.

During a second attack on 26 August, a man and a woman ripped a work by artist Vadim Sidur from the wall of the exhibition.

The research into public opinion on the attacks was conducted by Levada-Centre, an independent Russian sociological research organisation. Although 10% of those surveyed saw the attacks as justified, a quarter of respondents found the attacks to be unjustified, and 17% deemed them to be absolutely unacceptable. Another 40% admitted that they hadn’t heard anything about the attacks, while the rest had difficulty commenting.

The Sculptures We Do Not See exhibition is dedicated to non-conformist art, which served as an alternative to official art in the Soviet Union. The exhibition features the work of around 300 artists, including Vadim Sidur, Nikolay Silis and Vladimir Lemport.