The Supreme Court's decision provoked a harsh act of religious intolerance in St. Petersburg

A few hours after the Supreme Court of Russia announced the decision to liquidate the center of Jehovah's Witnesses, late in the evening of April 20, 2017, a group of men drove up in 2 cars to the largest worship building of Jehovah's Witnesses in St. Petersburg, located on Kolomyazhsky Prospekt. They blocked the exit from the building with cars. One of the visitors, shouting insults to the religion of Jehovah's Witnesses and threats of physical violence, threw the façade of the building, including glass doors and windows, with pre-prepared cobblestones. The liturgical building suffered significant damage.

Such a development of events was predicted by the lawyers who spoke in court. Earlier in the day, speaking in the debate, Maksim Novakov, representing the Jehovah's Witnesses Center, predicted that the trial could provoke a wave of violence against the Witnesses, ranging from damage to property to attacks on believers motivated by religious hatred. These are the inevitable consequences of the fact that peaceful people are unreasonably considered dangerous criminals.