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Detained opposition leaders being released by police
Published: 31 December, 2009, 19:35
Edited: 15 February, 2010, 22:52
Russian Federation, Moscow: Russian riot policemen arrest Russian Human Rights advocate, the chairwoman of the Russia Helsinki Committee, a former Soviet dissident Ludmila Alexeeva, 82, on December 31, 2009 at an unauthorised protest against the Kremlin politics, in central Moscow. (AFP Photo / Alexey Sazonov)
(1.3Mb) embed videoTAGS: Meeting, Scandal, Russia, Protest, Human rights
Most of the opposition activists arrested at an unsanctioned rally in the center of Moscow have been released by the capital’s police.
Human rights movement activist Lyudmila Alekseeva, from the Russia Helsinki Committee, said that police were instructed to release the detainees before 21:20 Moscow time.
According to Alekseeva, the possible delay in the release may have occurred because of official procedures and paper work.
Earlier on Thursday evening, between 30 and 60 members of opposition groups, almost all of those gathered, according to different sources, were seized by police at Triumfalnaya Square in the center of Moscow.
The activists were meeting there to hold a “Dissenters’ March”, despite not having received official permission from authorities in Moscow.
One of the organizers of the rally, Eduard Limonov from the National Bolsheviks movement, is among those being detained by police, according to a spokesperson from “The Other Russia” opposition political coalition.
One of the veterans of human rights movement, Lyudmila Alekseeva from the Russia Helsinki Committee, was also taken by police. The 82-year-old woman, dressed as The Snow Maiden, was immediately surrounded by a crowd when the OMON riot police began leading her out of the throng.
The so-called dissenters widely use the practice of unauthorized gatherings, which usually appeals for major press attention, but attracts very few participants.
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There is a still palpable nostalgia in some European circles, as well as in US neocon circles for the charm of the "dissenters". Mind you, calling them "opposition" would really imply that there is a political following worthy of attention and backed by some sectors of public opinion. Since folks like Limonov cannot get anywhere politically, they have effectively given up on the voters. So, now they can just protest till their hearts' content, knowing full well that such orchestrated protests without permits will bring more Western press and cameras, then "protesters". There is indeed a troublesome aspect of EU/Russia relations. There is out there an alien language that EU speaks with, and that ordinary humans cannot understand. It is OK in Europe to bring to life a nazimocracy fusion in Croatia, have an "understanding" of West Ukraininan Nazi nostalgia, as well as the similarly inspired public expressions in Baltic states, but at the same time, pretend to be the absolutely morally superior to anyone when it comes to human rights and freedoms. It is a world where they can close eyes to terror in Georgia, killing of civilians including children in Afganistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia, and Iraq. And at the same time, these same individuals can get incensed over "rights' of few people to break the law in Russia, and condemn the police for enforcing a simple law. Enforcement of such laws in Washington, for example, would not make it in any press, not even the local one. With so much mental confusion, West cannot hope to establish a leadership position in the world. Nobody can be a leader whose mental balance is questioned, and being able to excercise a simple, common sense judgement, in jeopardy. Or perhaps, these are the people who still believe that they have the monopol on the "truth", and that their insane contradicitons are just the matter of "interpretations" by their own Ministry of Truth.
Let me get this straight the EU parliament-which represents country which less than two weeks ago voted against the Russia Sponsored U.N Assembly accord to protect the memories of WWII [silent approval] of Saakashvili's eradication of a monument dedicated to the lives of Georgian men and women who fought and died for Georgia in WWII against the Third Reich, the same U.E parliament which is silent of Saakishvili's politics of terror against the people of Georgia- feels compelled to tell Russia how to conduct its own internal affairs. Well, Russia should follow its own rules and laws! http://en.rian.ru/world/20100101/157439094.html
Bianca Happy New Year to you and yours. These "human rights" calls coming from EU are side shows-Russia should just treat these calls with amusement and or with benignant neglect!