Police in Moscow raided two gay clubs last weekend, detaining over 50 people, in what Novaya Gazeta Europe described as the continued escalation of the Russian governments crackdown on the LGBTQ+ community.Photos and video from the raids was posted on pro-Russia Telegram channels MSK1 and SHOT on October 12 showing masked police storming into downtown Moscow club Central Station, forcing shouting at patrons and forcing them to lie on the ground. One clip shows officers searching people, with one cop violently kicking a detainees leg. Related Russian bar employees arrested for promoting LGBTQ+ extremism Drag performers were stripped as their outfits were confiscated by authorities. Novaya Gazeta Europe reports that the club was holding a Friday, October 11, event marking National Coming Out Day. Police stormed the venue at around 1 a.m. on Saturday morning under the pretext of fighting drug trafficking. A photo on MSK1 and a video on SHOT show one clubgoer who appears to have been forced to empty their bag, the contents laid out on the floor. Global perspectives delivered right to your inbox Our newsletter bridges borders to bring you LGBTQ+ news from around the world. Subscribe to our Newsletter today According to Novaya Gazeta, about 200 people were at Central Station at the time of the raid. Its unclear where the more than 50 people taken into custody were being detained.Police also raided another popular central Moscow LGBTQ+ venue, Three Monkeys, which is reportedly managed by the same owners as Central Station.The raids follow what one post on SHOT reportedly described as civilian complaints. An October 7 post on the channel included photos and video of drag performers at Three Monkeys, with Moscow locals reportedly complaining of all sorts of naughty things and Half-naked men dressed as women dance around the stage, and the guy guests [kissing] each other freely.The same day, another pro-Russia Telegram channel posted video of drag shows at Central Station in which performers allegedly mocked the countrys invasion of Ukraine. The channel wrote that the venue, along with Three Monkeys, should be shut down for discrediting the Russian army, according to Novaya Gazeta. As the outlet noted, last weekends raids are just the latest in Russias continued crackdown on the LGBTQ+ community. Since the countrys Supreme Court declared the international LGBT social movement an extremist organization last November, there have been multiple raids on LGBTQ+ bars and other establishments in cities across Russia, and multiple people have been arrested and charged under the countrys anti-LGBTQ+ laws. Following a similar raid on a nightclub in the city of Orenburg in March, the venues art director and administrator were both charged with being members of an extremist organization. The case was reportedly the first of its kind since the Russian Supreme Courts ruling. According to Novaya Gazeta, this is not the first time Central Station has been targeted. The venue was briefly forced to close in 2014 following violent attacks in the wake of Russias 2013 law banning so-called gay propaganda in the presence of children. The clubs St. Petersburg location was forced to close late last year.Subscribe to theLGBTQ Nation newsletterand be the first to know about the latest headlines shaping LGBTQ+ communities worldwide.