Pussy Riot was popular with the artists playing at Helsinki’s Flow Festival the past weekend. The three young women members of the Russian punk outfit accused of hooliganism are to receive their verdicts on Friday.

The lead singer of the US band Friends wore a Pussy Riot T-shirt, while Canadian artist Feist hung a hand-scribbled poster with the slogan “Free Pussy Riot” on stage on Sunday.

The Icelandic multimedia artist Björk, who brought the festival to a spectacular close on Sunday evening, drew huge cheers from the nearly 20,000-strong crowd as she made appeals for the Russian group and freedom of speech.

Introducing her second – and final – encore number "Declare Independence", Iceland’s most famous person said she originally wrote the song for the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Later, Björk had dedicated the song to the cause of Tibet and Kosovo. However, on this night in Helsinki the Icelandic diva offered the techno-romp to Pussy Riot.  

The Flow Festival, which drew a record audience of about 63,000 over four days, came to a riotous end as Björk had the audience chanting the chorus of her song: “Declare independence! Don’t let them do that to you!”