Why Pussy Riot supporters hold rallies from New York to Berlin (+video)

They asked for undies on heads, masks, and as much color as possible on Friday. They got all that plus a topless activist hacking down a cross in Ukraine, balaclavas on Soviet-era statues of soldiers in Bulgaria, and everywhere signs reading "Free Pussy Riot."

The small, but raucous protests were held in a few dozen cities worldwide in support of three members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot who were convicted of hooliganism in Moscow Friday. Several dozen people came out in Barcelona, Spain, a couple hundred in Paris, about 40 in New York, and a handful in Washington.

The three female members of Russian punk band Pussy Riot have been in jail for more than five months because of a guerrilla performance denouncing President Vladimir Putin.

IN PICTURES: Russians protesting Putin

The trial sparked a wave of protests around the world in support of the feminist punk rockers.

The three women, who have been in jail for more than five months because of a guerrilla performance denouncing President Vladimir Putin in Moscow's main cathedral, were each sentenced Friday to two years in prison.

The trial — on charges of hooliganism motivated by religious hatred — has attracted worldwide attention as an emblem of Russia's intolerance of dissent, especially under the reign of Putin, who has moved aggressively in recent months against Russia's opposition activists.

But the call for large global protests in support of the defendants on Friday appeared to draw only a few hundred people to many sites, and they seemed unlikely to gain the momentum needed to exert pressure on Russia's government.

Among those protesting in Berlin was Marianne Birthler, a former East German dissident who was later named head of a post-reunification commission that investigated the East German intelligence service.

"I remember the times when we were in opposition ... the signs from other countries were very, very important. So we knew what we are doing is recognized and there are people who are willing to support us and who follow what happens to us. That's the reason we are here now," she said.

Protesters in Paris, at Igor Stravinsky square near the Centre Pompidou modern art museum, listened as an organizer monitored the Moscow proceedings on his phone, then echoed the chants he reported from Russia, calling out "Svoboda! Svoboda!" or "Freedom! Freedom!"

In Ukraine, four feminist activists, one of them topless, used a chainsaw to hack down a wooden cross in Kiev's central square in a show of support.

"A cross is a symbol of the repressive religious prejudice that supports dictatorship. Now people who worship the cross want to jail the innocent," said Anna Gutsol, leader of the group that chopped down the nearly 6-meter-(18-foot-) tall cross put into place during Ukraine's Orange Revolution.

In Barcelona, Spain, more than 50 colorfully-garbed demonstrators sang and danced to Pussy Riot songs as they protested outside the large Sagrada Familia church.

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