Beatings And Arrests At Latest Moscow Protest
- By Ray Furlong
1
The authorities had warned they would take “all necessary measures” to stop the unauthorized rally. These police officers appeared to take those words to heart, as they detained a man on Pushkinskaya Square in the city center.
2
Prominent opposition activist Lyubov Sobol was taken away by police as she left her political headquarters. She is on hunger strike, demanding the right to run in local elections, and a key organizer of the current wave of protests.
3
Ranks of riot police were in place to prevent protesters marching along the Boulevard Ring, which skirts central Moscow.
4
Many of those detained were young...
5
...but age was no protection from police using force to prevent peaceful protest.
6
A helicopter flying over a statue of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin, in the square that bears his name.
7
8
Police swooped on another demonstrator. RFE/RL's Moscow correspondent Matthew Luxmoore said it felt like a state of emergency had been declared in Moscow.
9
A protester holds aloft a copy of Russia's constitution, which guarantees freedom of assembly and free speech.
10
Russia's ongoing crackdown has been condemned by the United States, the European Union, and international human-rights organizations.
11
12
Batons ready, members of Russia's National Guard were also on hand to prevent the demonstrators gathering.
13
14
