Commissioner on Human Rights in the Russian Federation Vladimir Lukin offered to examine complaints of people who had suffered from police violence during breaking up of peaceful demonstrations in Moscow on April 14 and in St. Petersburg on April 15.
“What I saw on television gave me the impression that some representatives of the law enforcement agencies seriously abused their authority” - the ombudsman told Interfax.
He said that all complaints would be investigated, and if they appeared to be well-grounded he would insistently ask the Russian Prosecutor General's Office to open criminal cases which he is willing to sustain in court.
“I saw blood had been shed in the streets, fortunately, nothing irreversible had happened. During mass actions police is supposed to safeguard peace and security and police forces must not act to the prejudice of life and health of peaceful citizens”.
Vladimir Lukin reminded again a constitutional provision on freedom to assemble. “Ban on the march is not constitutional. Citizens have right to assemble peacefully, without weapon, and participate in both meetings and processions.”
The Dissenters’ March, organized by the opposition coalition The Other Russia was held on April 14 in spite of the fact that it was banned by authorities. Riot police and special forces chipped in. According to CDIA there were about nine thousand policemen in the streets of the capital, i.e. twice more than protestors. Additional forces from all the Russia had been gathered in Moscow. All that looked like as if the city prepared for military operation or if a state of emergency had been declared.
It seems that all the authorities’ actions were aimed not to prevent “provokes, possible violence and victims” but to demonstrate the gravity of the menace of the “Orange revolution” in Russia.
Just OMON, not the protestors became the source of violence in Moscow and St. Petersburg. Because of such events Russian and foreign human rights organizations accuse Russia of permanent human rights violations. Furthermore if the demonstration had not been broken up with the use of not excessive force it would not evoke such response, so, in some sense authorities acted in opposition’s favor.
Some observers claim that the authorities whipped up the situation knowingly. Somebody in the Kremlin said to get money from the threat of the “Orange Revolution”, thus, the more awful the menace is, the more funds are appropriated to prevent it.
The panic was roused also by the information about the US report “Supporting Human Rights and Democracy” and the interview of a Russian tycoon Boris Berezovsky given to the Guardian.
March along the alleyways
Organizers of the Dissenters’ March planned to gather at noon on Pushkin Square in central Moscow and then illegally march to Tourgenev Square where a meeting (that had been permitted) should take place.
At the noon all the Pushkin Square was flooded with OMON. In a small park near the square a “Young Guard”, a youth pro-Kremlin organization gathered. Soon the pro-Putin meeting was over, and the police began to break up dissenters. The leader of the United Civic Front Garry Kasparov, the head of the youth department of “Yabloko” Ilya Yashin, the leader of the youth organization “Da!” Maria Gajdar, journalists Valery Panyushkin, Sergey Parkhomenko and several other people were detained.
On the building near Pushkin Square an activist from the party of Eduard Limonov hoisted a flag of his party. After a time from the other side of the building a young unconscious man was carried out. It remained unclear whether the injured man was the very activist from Limonov’s party.
Some time later protesters formed a column and went along Strastnoy Boulevard to the direction of Turgenev Square. OMON cordons didn’t let them pass, so that most people turned in alleyways and reached the Turgenev Square independently.
The second clash took place on Rozhdestvensky Boulevard. According to witnesses, several protestors had their head injured, one lied out of conscious.
Near the Chistoprudny Boulevard all the demonstrators were searched and passed through door frame metal detectors. The meeting was quite peaceful, among speakers were Mikhail Kasyanov, Irina Hakamada, Victor Shenderovich (a popular writer, journalist, creator of a satire show on TV), representatives of Limonov’s party and of The Red Youth Avanguard (“Avangard krasnoy molodezhi”).
Victor Shenderovich called the protestors to go to the Police Department № of 83 (Presnensky OVD), to which about 40 detained people had been directed.
In an hour a few hundred demonstrators gathered near the police department. State Duma deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov, Kasparov’s assistant Marina Litvinovich, Viktor Shenderovich, a presidential ex-assistant on economic affairs Andrey Illarionov and other famous people demanded to set the detained protestors free. In some time the riot police surrounded people; some were grabbed and forced into buses. People tried to get through cordons but OMON began clubbing them. In the end OMON succeeded in shoving the demonstration back from the building.
Organizers estimate that more than 200 people were detained, dozens were truncheoned. Later the arrested demonstrators were set free. More than five thousand people participated in the demonstration.
Moscow authorities announced that on Saturday there were no incidents; that police “succeeded in preservation of security and order”. Moscow police spokesman Viktor Biryukov insisted that “the police actions were justified and all security personnel had remained within the law in implementing the protest ban in spite of provocations of some demonstrators who had attempted to cause fights and clashes.”
On Sunday a similar demonstration was organized in St. Petersburg where it was similarly break up. Although protesters didn’t try to organize an illegal march, they were clubbed even more violent than in Moscow.
