Dozens arrested after protests across Russia - Summary

Fri, 31 Dec 2010

Moscow- Dozens of Kremlin critics protesting for political reform in Russia were arrested Friday when security forces broke up the non-government approved rallies, reported Interfax.

The agency reported that more than 120 protesters had been detained after gatherings in Moscow and St Petersburg, including former vice premier Boris Nemtsov, who was arrested on the sidelines of the Moscow protests. He had called for a protest march through the city.

The 31st day of months with that many days has become a time of protest marches in Russia, taking its relevance from Article 31 in the Russian Constitution, which guarantees the right of public gatherings.

The last such marches, on October 31, were broken up violently.

There were also scattered lingering protests against the recent guilty verdict handed down against oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsy for stealing oil from his now defunct company, Yukos.

Lyudmila Alexeyeva, 83, head of the Moscow Helsinki Group, a human rights organization, for Russia's splintered opposition to make common cause.

In other locales across Europe, authorities allowed protests to continue, albeit under supervision.

Separately, authorities said numerous young people were arrested after staging a non-political event near the Kremlin in Moscow. Authorities said they confiscated knives, bludgeons and starting pistols and suspected the group had plans to engage in fighting with potentially rowdy football fans.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/news/360316,protests-russia-summary.html.