Posted on 03/13/2020 7:17:37 AM PDT by Twotone
ST. PETERSBURG, Russia -- Police in St. Petersburg and several other Russian cities have detained activists during and ahead of protests against sweeping constitutional amendments that open the possibility for President Vladimir Putin to remain in power for another 16 years.
The March 12 demonstrations were held while local lawmakers discussed the amendments, a day after parliament's two chambers both overwhelmingly approved the changes.
In St. Petersburg, Russia's second-largest city, an RFE/RL correspondent reported that police had detained two activists of the Peaceful Resistance group.
Dmitry Negodin and Yevgeny Musin rallied in front of the Legislative Assembly with posters urging local lawmakers to reject the amendments.
Two female protesters, Olga Smirnova and Marina Ken, were also detained.
Earlier, a coordinator with the opposition organization Open Russia, Sergei Kuzin, another member of the group, Larisa Kucherova, and municipal lawmaker Vasily Kunin, were held by police as they tried to leave their apartments.
In the Urals city of Yekaterinburg, police detained the local leader of the opposition Yabloko party, Sergei Khorenzhenko, as well as activists Sergei Tiunov and Yelena Pary while they were protesting in the city center.
(Excerpt) Read more at rferl.org ...
Insane Russian liberal thugs!
Stop holding public gatherings when coronavirus is spreading.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.