Ban the cross? Ban the Union Jack!

Moscow, March 22 (Interfax) - A picket in defense of Christians' rights in the UK was held near the British embassy in Moscow on Wednesday.

The picket was organized by the Orthodox public movement Narodny Sobor in response to the decision made by the British authorities to fire people for openly wearing crosses, Narodny Sobor told Interfax-Religion.

The protesters were holding imperial flags saying "Stop the persecution of Christians!" and "Britain! If you ban crosses, ban your flag too!"

"The Moscow division of Narodny Sobor is concerned about the recent developments in the EU in general and in the UK in particular, where discrimination against Christians has become commonplace. We consider it our duty to categorically oppose militant atheism and anti-Christian tolerance in any country of the world," the movement says.

According to earlier reports, the British authorities intend to defend the legality of the ban on public wearing of crosses in the UK in the European Court of Human Rights.

The Strasbourg court will try lawsuits involving the religious discrimination against four Christians from the UK, who have lost their cases in British courts.

The Russian Church earlier expressed surprise about the loyalty of the British authorities, who have banned wearing crosses at work, to other symbols, for example, gay symbols.

"This decision made by the British parliament is certainly alarming, especially given the existence in modern European society of other tendencies aimed at liberating human instincts," Vladimir Legoyda, the head of the Synodal Information Department, told reporters. He said he was surprised by the fact that public demonstration of affiliation with gay culture is considered normal in the UK while the wearing of crosses is not.