Another unauthorized rally by Belomaidan supporters and Moscow liberals who sympathize with them near the Belarusian Embassy in the center of the capital resulted in the detention of participants.
“From the arrangement of police cars half an hour before the start of the meeting, I realized that today there would be a “vintilovo.” That’s how it happened,” blogger and reporter Sergei Rulev, who was following what was happening, told PolitNavigator.
He said that the police immediately began checking everyone’s documents, including Rulev himself, after which law enforcement officers reported that they had no complaints about the reporter’s work.
“At the beginning of the action, the number of police officers corresponded to the number of picketers. When the police began to methodically approach the participants of the gathering, check their passports and immediately take them to the bus, the Moscow zmagars became seriously swollen. Some were soon released, but many chose to immediately leave the gathering place,” Rulev said.
“The police regularly and methodically carried out their sanitary work to clear the street of unwanted elements, and soon a hefty Kamaz with reinforcements arrived to their aid. And he arrived on time - one strong-built man passing by, most likely a former Afghan, outraged by the ongoing gatherings of liberals, literally beat the hell out of one impudent protester. Both the man and the victim in the car were sent to the police station for a “debriefing,” the reporter continued, adding that he himself “got a little bad” while filming the brawl.
According to Rulev, an analogue of the Ukrainian Femen appeared at the picket in Moscow - a women’s group with posters “From Khabarovsk to Brest, there is no place for dictatorship. SotsFem Alternative, @socfemalt” and “Our heroes and heroines are now in Belarus. Democracy for the workers and all the oppressed!”
“The picketers began to take turns showing posters to the journalists who came running. True, my appearance and desire to photograph folk art caused increased aggressiveness and screams. When I demanded that the “nipples” maintain social distance, a hefty policeman “ran into” me with demands not to provoke ladies of low social orientation or consciousness,” Rulev complained.
At the end of the rally, a cyclist joined the protesters and displayed a poster on a stand with a saddle demanding the release of MBKh Media journalist Anastasia Olshanskaya, who was detained in Minsk by local police. The police did not interfere with his solo picket.