Anti-Kremlin rally broken up

2007-03-24 20:17

Nizhny Novgorod, Russia - With a helicopter buzzing overhead, hundreds of Russian riot police in the country's fourth biggest city Nizhny Novgorod broke up an attempted anti-Kremlin rally on Saturday.

Dozens of the marchers, who wanted to defy a ban on protests to demonstrate against the political stranglehold of President Vladimir Putin, were bundled into prison vans and driven away from central Gorky Square.

"Around 30 people have been detained, four or five of them were active organisers," Alexander Gorbatov, a spokesperson for local police, was quoted by the Interfax news agency as saying.

Riot police with batons, black helmets and shields then forced the remaining dozens of protestors, some of whom were chanting "Fascists!", to disperse. A policewoman warned that anyone taking part in the rally would be arrested.

Organisers said that dozens of activists had also been arrested ahead of the demonstration in Nizhny Novgorod, a 1.3-million strong regional centre some 380 kilometres east of Moscow.

"This shows that the authorities are afraid of the people. There are no extremists here. People just want to be heard," said Oksana Chelysheva, one of the organisers.

Some of those detained were journalists covering the rally but they were later released after showing their accreditation documents.

One of them, Remco Reiding, a Moscow-based reporter from the GPD Dutch press association, was beaten up by police, Chelysheva told AFP by telephone.

"He came into our office. He had two bruises on his face and the sleeves on his coat were ripped," Chelysheva said.

"He said that a policeman had hit him because he didn't seem to understand the order to place his head on a bus and to spread his legs."

The action was organised by The Other Russia, a movement that brings together a wide range of opposition groups and has held a series of rallies against President Vladimir Putin's leadership in recent months.

- AFP