Moscow - Hundreds of supporters of the Russian opposition held a demonstration in central Moscow Saturday calling for Interior Minister Rashid Nurgaliyev to resign following a series of scandals over police brutality and corruption. "The goal should be that Russia's police would be as respected as police in Western countries," a spokesman for human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov said at the demonstration.
In February Russian President Dmitry Medvedev announced a crackdown on corruption in the police and interior ministry, and gave Nurgaliyev one month to submit a plan to that effect.
A poll said that over three-quarters of the Russian population did not trust the police. Medvedev's move followed reports of numerous attacks and rapes carried out by police on people in custody.
The demonstration Saturday was monitored by police special forces, but had been authorized to go ahead.
A number of demonstrators also held placards reading "decent salaries for a decent police."
Supporters of the liberal Solidarnost party, as well as its leader former chess champion Garry Kasparov, were present on Saturday. According to police reports, seven people were arrested who had tried to interrupt the demonstration.
Similar demonstrations in Moscow have normally been prohibited.
Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312780,protestors-take-to-moscow-streets-demanding-police-reform.html.
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