Madonna has been hit with a $10.5 million (£6.6 million) lawsuit by Russian anti-gay activists after speaking out in support of gay rights at a gig in St Petersburg last week.

The ‘MDNA’ star handed out pink anti-homophobia wristbands to crowd members during the show and told the audience to “fight for the right to be free” in response to a new regulation adopted in St Petersburg in March of this year, which saw the city’s yearly gay pride parade banned as it promoted “gay lifestyles” and the “propagation of homosexuality” – both of which have now been outlawed.

Now, Rolling Stone reports that a lawsuit has been submitted by members of the Union of Russian Citizens, the People’s Assembly and the New Great Russia party against the singer, with a lawyer for the group claiming that her actions caused “psychological stress and emotional shock” amongst the audience.

A spokeswoman for the Union of Russian Citizens said: “We demand that she pay for moral damage suffered by St Petersburg residents as a result of her actions during the show on August 9. We must defend our right to normal cultural life without propaganda of values and views that contradict the Russian culture.”

Meanwhile, according to the Guardian, another of the activists who has filed the suit, Alexei Kolokov, claimed:

“Maybe someone does not see the link but after Madonna’s concert maybe some boy becomes gay, some girl becomes lesbian, fewer children are born as a result and this big country cannot defend its borders – for me it causes moral suffering.”