The balance of detainees for allegedly participating in protests against the mobilization of reservists announced this Wednesday by the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, increased to more than 1,000 people in at least 38 cities in Russia.
More than a thousand people have been arrested this Wednesday in Russia during the protests called by a peace movement against the partial mobilization decreed by the Russian president, Vladimir Putin, to face the defeats suffered on the battlefield in Ukraine.
“At 18:36 GMT (15:00 in Chile) there were already more than 1,113 people detained in 38 cities,” said the independent organization OVD-Info, which tracks arrests and has been declared a foreign agent in Russia.
The human rights organization reports detainees in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Yekaterinburg, Perm, Ufa, Krasnoyarsk, Chelyabinsk, Irkutsk, Novosibirsk, Yakutsk, Ulaan-Ude, Archangelsk, Korolev, Voronezh, Zheleznogorsk, Izhevsk, Tomsk, Salavat, Tyumen , Volgograd, Petrozavodsk, Samara, Surgut, Smolensk, Belgorod and other cities.
The Moscow Prosecutor’s Office warned that organization and participation in illegal actions will be punished with up to 15 years in prison. Disseminating calls to participate in illegal actions or to carry out other illegal acts on social networks will also be punished administratively or criminally.
Calling minors to participate in illegal acts will also be punished.
In the capital there were at least 409 detainees and in Saint Petersburg at least 444, according to the same source.
In the center of Moscow, where there were hundreds of protesters on Arbat Street, The arrests by the riot police began as soon as the protest started, as Efe could verify.
Those gathered shouted “no to war” to applause and “Putin to the trench.” A demonstrator with a protest sign was immediately arrested by the agents and taken away. Others chanted “the police are the shame of Russia.”
“Why are you doing this if tomorrow you are going to be sent to the war in Ukraine?” Some addressed the agents. “Die for what, to saint of what?”, they added.
Among the chants, “life for our children” could also be heard, referring to the declarations of the head of the Defense Committee of the Duma or Chamber of Deputies, Andréi Kartapolov, that the first mobilized will be reserve non-commissioned officers under 35 years of age. and officers under 45 years of age.
The citizens tried to create human chains to avoid arrests, while the police created cordons to prevent the passage of the protesters, who gathered with the intention of going down Arbat Street until they reached the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Shortly after, law enforcement began to clear the area and push protesters towards the beginning of the pedestrian street.