Police beat anti-Putin protesters

ST PETERSBURG – Russian riot police beat anti-Kremlin demonstrators with batons in the tourist heart of St Petersburg yesterday, a day after authorities snuffed out a similar protest in Moscow.

The violence began as some 500 demonstrators calling for the resignation of President Vladimir Putin moved towards a railway station after the end of an officially permitted protest. Police wearing blue urban combat uniforms and crash helmets moved into the crowd, arrested some of the protesters and pushed others to the ground and hit them with batons, a Reuters witness said.”Stop the beating,” demonstrators shouted at the police.”Fascists.How much did Putin pay you?” The police herded around 150 protesters into police vans, and continued to hit some of them with batons inside the vans.The city authorities had allowed the protesters to hold a meeting, but had banned a march.Opponents of Putin, acting under the umbrella organisation Other Russia, had planned two rallies over the weekend.Authorities banned the main rally on Saturday in Moscow and detained several hundred protesters there, including former world chess champion Garry Kasparov.Other Russia brings together Kremlin opponents from across the political spectrum, from liberals to communists.They say Putin has trampled on democratic freedoms and they demand a free and fair presidential election in 2008.Other Russia has only marginal influence as the vast majority of Russians support Putin, whose seven years in power have been marked by huge oil and commodity wealth and the return of national pride after the chaotic post-Soviet 1990s.Yesterday about 3 000 protesters watched by hundreds of riot police gathered in a central St Petersburg square for the second anti-Kremlin demonstration.The mobile phone network had been blocked and police trucks mounted with water cannon were parked in side streets.”Freedom!” the protesters shouted.”Putin is the enemy of the people.””Our demand is the resignation of the government and the president and free and fair elections this year and next,” the leader of the left-wing National Bolshevik party, Eduard Limonov, told the crowd.Russia holds parliamentary elections this year and a presidential election in 2008.Earlier police had detained dozens of protesters heading towards the rally, protest organisers said.Nampa-ReutersPolice wearing blue urban combat uniforms and crash helmets moved into the crowd, arrested some of the protesters and pushed others to the ground and hit them with batons, a Reuters witness said.”Stop the beating,” demonstrators shouted at the police.”Fascists.How much did Putin pay you?” The police herded around 150 protesters into police vans, and continued to hit some of them with batons inside the vans.The city authorities had allowed the protesters to hold a meeting, but had banned a march.Opponents of Putin, acting under the umbrella organisation Other Russia, had planned two rallies over the weekend.Authorities banned the main rally on Saturday in Moscow and detained several hundred protesters there, including former world chess champion Garry Kasparov.Other Russia brings together Kremlin opponents from across the political spectrum, from liberals to communists.They say Putin has trampled on democratic freedoms and they demand a free and fair presidential election in 2008.Other Russia has only marginal influence as the vast majority of Russians support Putin, whose seven years in power have been marked by huge oil and commodity wealth and the return of national pride after the chaotic post-Soviet 1990s.Yesterday about 3 000 protesters watched by hundreds of riot police gathered in a central St Petersburg square for the second anti-Kremlin demonstration.The mobile phone network had been blocked and police trucks mounted with water cannon were parked in side streets.”Freedom!” the protesters shouted.”Putin is the enemy of the people.””Our demand is the resignation of the government and the president and free and fair elections this year and next,” the leader of the left-wing National Bolshevik party, Eduard Limonov, told the crowd.Russia holds parliamentary elections this year and a presidential election in 2008.Earlier police had detained dozens of protesters heading towards the rally, protest organisers said.Nampa-Reuters