.Police thwart Moscow opposition rally, arrest 25
MOSCOW (AP) - Police thwarted an anti-Kremlin protest organized by Garry Kasparov's opposition group on Sunday, seizing demonstrators and shoving them into trucks. They detained at least 25 people including the group's co-leader.
About 10 protesters also were detained in St. Petersburg, Russian media reported.
There was no sign of former chess champion Kasparov at the chaotic downtown Moscow square where he had vowed to hold a demonstration despite being denied permission.
Kasparov and his allies in the group Other Russia want to draw attention to Russia's economic troubles and to protest Kremlin plans to extend the presidential term from four years to six. Kremlin critics say the planned constitutional change is the latest step in a retreat from democracy and is designed to further increase the grip of powerful Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his allies.
Before the planned start of the Sunday demonstration, hundreds of police ringed Triumph Square, which was cordoned off with metal barriers and police trucks.
Police seized Kasparov's Other Russia co-leader, Eduard Limonov, along with a handful of bodyguards as they approached the square. They were bundled into police vehicles.
Police roughly grabbed protesters who tried to enter the square. Officers could be seen detaining about 25 people and dragging several of them into a waiting truck. Some were members of a pro-Kremlin youth group that staged a counter-demonstration, dropping leaflets from a concert hall rooftop.
Two protesters climbed onto the truck and were manhandled by police who shoved them into the vehicle through a roof hatch.
Kasparov, a former world chess champion who has become a fierce Kremlin critic, has been detained in the past. Other Russia members have also been beaten by police when they have defied tight restrictions placed on their gatherings by authorities.
Police began removing metal barriers from the square less than two hours after the planned start of the protest.
About 50 protesters - one with a banner of Kasparov's group United Civil Front, which is part of Other Russia - gathered at another site in central Moscow and marched about 1 kilometer (half a mile) along a major street, shouting slogans such as "Russia without Putin!" before they dispersed.
Kasparov's Web site said police in Moscow also broke up a protest by a hard-line group of retired generals in a square nearby and detained about 50 participants.The group, the Soviet Officers' Union, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The leader of Other Russia's branch in St. Petersburg, Olga Kurnosova, said at least one organizer of a protest planned in that city was detained. The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted St. Petersburg police as saying 10 people were detained when they gathered at a site separate from the one approved by authorities for a protest.
MyWay
About 10 protesters also were detained in St. Petersburg, Russian media reported.
There was no sign of former chess champion Kasparov at the chaotic downtown Moscow square where he had vowed to hold a demonstration despite being denied permission.
Kasparov and his allies in the group Other Russia want to draw attention to Russia's economic troubles and to protest Kremlin plans to extend the presidential term from four years to six. Kremlin critics say the planned constitutional change is the latest step in a retreat from democracy and is designed to further increase the grip of powerful Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his allies.
Before the planned start of the Sunday demonstration, hundreds of police ringed Triumph Square, which was cordoned off with metal barriers and police trucks.
Police seized Kasparov's Other Russia co-leader, Eduard Limonov, along with a handful of bodyguards as they approached the square. They were bundled into police vehicles.
Police roughly grabbed protesters who tried to enter the square. Officers could be seen detaining about 25 people and dragging several of them into a waiting truck. Some were members of a pro-Kremlin youth group that staged a counter-demonstration, dropping leaflets from a concert hall rooftop.
Two protesters climbed onto the truck and were manhandled by police who shoved them into the vehicle through a roof hatch.
Kasparov, a former world chess champion who has become a fierce Kremlin critic, has been detained in the past. Other Russia members have also been beaten by police when they have defied tight restrictions placed on their gatherings by authorities.
Police began removing metal barriers from the square less than two hours after the planned start of the protest.
About 50 protesters - one with a banner of Kasparov's group United Civil Front, which is part of Other Russia - gathered at another site in central Moscow and marched about 1 kilometer (half a mile) along a major street, shouting slogans such as "Russia without Putin!" before they dispersed.
Kasparov's Web site said police in Moscow also broke up a protest by a hard-line group of retired generals in a square nearby and detained about 50 participants.The group, the Soviet Officers' Union, could not immediately be reached for comment.
The leader of Other Russia's branch in St. Petersburg, Olga Kurnosova, said at least one organizer of a protest planned in that city was detained. The ITAR-Tass news agency quoted St. Petersburg police as saying 10 people were detained when they gathered at a site separate from the one approved by authorities for a protest.
MyWay
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