The March of Those Who Disagree, Nizhny Novgorod, March 24, 2007
Photo: Roman Yarovitsin
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Nizhny Novgorod March Broken Up
Although local officials insist it never even happened, the March of Those Who Disagree in Nizhny Novgorod resulted in 300 people being detained Saturday morning, according to march organizers. Police backup came from Chuvashia, Tatarstan, Moscow, St. Petersburg and Vladimir and numbered 20,000. Stores and cafes were closed in the downtown area. A helicopter circled and police soldiers in riot gear and special forces blocked the central square. Respectable looking middle-aged people with children were allowed to cross the square after showing their passports to prove that they were locals. Passengers arriving in the train and stations were taken to the police station to be photographed and have their passports copied.
The Other Russia march was refused authorization on the pretext that a children's festival would be held on the central square of the city that day. Forty young athletes staged a performance, but there was no audience, as their parents were not allowed onto the square.
The March of Those Who Disagree began unexpectedly at noon when about 20 demonstrators, mainly retired people, appeared and were promptly taken into custody. Several dozen other demonstrators and began shouting slogans. They included Avant Garde Red Youth leader Sergey Udaltsov and several members of the National Bolshevik organization. They were soon knocked to the ground, beaten and kicked by special forces troops.
About ten journalists were taken into custody along with the protesters, including photographers from Reuters and Associated Press, and reporters from Ogonek, The New York Times and RTR television. Ivan Sekretarev of AP stated that he was hit in the head and kidneys.
The local organizers of the march, local National Bolshevik leaders Ilya Shamazov and Yury Staroverov were not present at the event because they had been taken into custody the day before and interrogated on suspicions of terrorism and taken to the city of Saransk. Marina Litvinovich, an assistant to Garri Kasparov, was stopped because of questions about the tinting on her car windows and held for seven hours. Alexander Gorbatov, head of the press service of the Nizhny Novgorod Region police (GUVD), stated that 30 people had been detained. Kommersant correspondents counted 90 and the National Bolshevik press service said that a total of 300 people were taken in. Everyone was released by the end of the day, most without being charged.
www.kommersant.ru
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 26, 2007
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