MOSCOW (AFP).- A member of the Pussy Riot protest collective was arrested in Moscow Thursday, for the second time in a month, along with six friends, a spokeswoman for the group said.

Veronika Nikulshina and four friends were picked up during an overnight police raid at her home in the Russian capital and detained, the spokeswoman said.

Later in the day, two other activists were also arrested.

The anarchist Pussy Riot collective -- often decked out in neon balaclavas and tights -- made its name with politically-charged performances, lambasting everything from the Russian church to the persecution of the country's gay community.

"It's the second time in a month that she's been arrested," the group's spokeswoman said. "She will spend the night at a police station."

Police officers said she was being questioned over damage to government property by a group of youths, she added.

Those arrested were not allowed to see their lawyer or receive food from relatives. While she was being held Nikulshina became unwell and an ambulance was called, according to the Pussy Riot spokeswoman.

In August 2012, three Pussy Riot members were sentenced to two years in a prison colony for "hooliganism and religious hatred" for performing a song protesting against Russian President Vladimir Putin in a central Moscow church.

The group hit the headlines again last year when four members invaded the pitch during the World Cup final dressed in police uniforms.

According to a Pussy Riot member, cited by Russian news agencies, those arrested on Thursday will appear in a Moscow court on Friday.


© Agence France-Presse