Two gay rights activists detained by police on Saturday for picketing against the law that bans "gay propaganda" among minors have been released after police compiled a report of administrative offence, a representative of St. Petersburg’s LGBT group said.

The law, which came into force on March 30, caused a divided reaction among Russians. Any person who violets the law on "promotion of homosexuality" can be fined in St. Petersburg for an administrative offence.

On Saturday afternoon a few dozen people gathered in the city center, later they started to go into the center of the square with their mouths sealed with tape. They were holding posters in protest against the new city law. Police copied passport data of several men; two people, gay right activist Sergei Kondrashov and head of regional LGBT Igor Kochetkov were detained. They were detained for violating a new law banning promotion of homosexuality and pedophilia among minors as well as for disobedience to the police.

On Thursday police in St. Petersburg arrested two gay rights activists for violating a new local law that bans "gay propaganda" among minors. They were the first detained in St. Petersburg for such offense. On Friday, the court returned the case to the police, because it did not have reports of withdrawal of posters, which the participants were holding during the arrest.

After the law was passed, gay activists asked leaders in the West to ban the author of the law, legislator Vitaly Milonov, and Governor Georgy Poltavchenko who signed it, from entry into the EU, U.S. and Canada.