Mass Arrests of “Dissenters” in Moscow (Photo) 14:13, 14/04/2007
In Pushkin Square of Moscow, where a “March of Dissent” was to take place, hundreds of people are detained, including leaders of Russian opposition. Among the arrested are the leader of the United Civil Front Garry Kasparov, leaders of youth “Yabloko” Ilya Yashin and a youth movement “Da” Maria Gaidar.
As the radio station “Echo Moskvy” was told by Kasparov in a live interview, “there were no reasons for detention given”.
“I was going on a sidewalk towards a metro station with a group of people without party symbols,” he said.
“We were surrounded, everybody was seized”. He called actions of riot policemen “a bandit attack against Russian citizens, who hadn’t been doing anything illegal , just walking down the streets of their capital”.
According to the leader of the United Civil Front, it is hardly possible to hold “March of Dissent” any more. “It is difficult to make any moves now, everything is blocked, a martial law is in force in the center of the city actually,” Kasparov noted.
As said by Kasparov, about 100 people who tried to break through to Pushkin Square were detained by policemen.
Garry Kasparov says about hundreds of detained activists who were on their way to Moscow. Two buses with “The Other Russia” activists were stopped in Kostroma at 4 a.m. Cars were stopped on far-fetched reasons; allegedly their brakes were out of order. As a result, as said by him, about 100 persons were taken to an undisclosed location. Leaders of local branches of the United Civil Front and the People’s Democratic Union were interrogated in police departments for 5 hours, ad then released.
25 activists of the United Civil Front were detained in Mytischi located near Moscow. Among them was a member of the Federal council of the United Civil Front Alexander Osovtsev. The accident has taken place in a rest house. In the night a check started. According to police information, somebody shot at the territory of the rest house. In the morning when the UCF group was going to leave for Moscow to take part in the March, all activists were detained, NEWSru.com reports.
National Bolshevik party members from Orenburg would not be able to join the rally either. As the press-secretary of Limonov’s party Alexander Averin said that police had staged a provocation. Policemen in mufti initiated a fight, then three National Bolshevik activists were taken to a police department. One of them open veins in protest. Yesterday all activists were released, but they haven’t enough time to arrive to Moscow.
About 9,000 policemen are to enforce order during mass protest rallies in Moscow today, Interfax was told by a deputy head of information and PR section of Internal Affairs department of Moscow Evgenij Gildeev. He added that “these forces would suffice to fulfil tasks of law and order ensurance”.
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