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Anti-Kremlin Protest Thwarted In Russia

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The Associated Press

Published: December 15, 2008

MOSCOW - Police broke up a banned anti-Kremlin protest in central Moscow on Sunday, seizing dozens of demonstrators and shoving them into trucks.

Organizers said 130 people were detained around the capital but police put the number at 90. The opposition movement headed by fierce Kremlin critic and former chess champion Garry Kasparov said the co-leader of the group was among those seized.

THE PROTESTERS

•The Other Russia movement organized the protest to draw attention to Russia's economic troubles and to protest Kremlin plans to extend the presidential term from four years to six.

•Critics say the constitutional change is part of a retreat from democracy and is aimed at strengthening the grip of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his allies.

•Garry Kasparov and other prominent liberals launched an anti-Kremlin movement called Solidarity in a bid to unite Russia's liberal forces and encourage a popular revolution similar to those in Ukraine and Georgia.

THE GOVERNMENT'S SIDE

•Before the scheduled start of the protest, hundreds of officers guarded Triumph Square, which was ringed by police trucks and metal barriers.

•Police roughly grabbed protesters who tried to enter the square, dragging at least 25 into waiting trucks.

•Police also seized Other Russia co-leader Eduard Limonov along with a handful of bodyguards as they walked toward the square.

•Moscow police said they detained 90 people. Some of the detainees were members of a pro-Kremlin youth group that staged a counter-demonstration.

•The Kremlin is wary about any evidence of public anger as its struggles with a potentially politically damaging economic downturn. There has been little evidence of change in the government's heavy-handed treatment of critics since Dmitry Medvedev succeeded Putin as president in May and stressed the importance of civil rights in his inaugural address.

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