On the occasion of the anniversary of the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, February 24, in Russian cities attempts were made to hold protests – mostly anti-war pickets. Many participants were detained by the police, summarized the Russian edition of the BBC.
From the morning of February 24, which is a holiday in Russia this year, in various cities of the country flowers are laid in front of monuments and pickets, as well as the raising of anti-war posters. Protest actions were few in number, but even these forms of protest and expression of mourning were suppressed by the police.
Opposition movements and activists did not plan mass demonstrations because of the almost inevitable risk of their dispersal and the detention of protesters.
According to the Vesna movement, which is one of the organizers of anti-war and anti-mobilization actions in Russia (recognized by the court as an extremist organization at the end of last year), there were commemorative events in 44 cities, and protest marches in 11. Anti-war flags, graffiti and black tape also appeared in several cities.
In Moscow, the city’s residents came in the morning to the monument to Lesya Ukrainka on Ukrainsky Boulevard to lay flowers in front of the monument. Police officers were on duty at the monument throughout the day, who asked a public services officer to remove the flowers.
According to OVD-Info (the project is recognized as a “foreign agent” in Russia), at least three women who came with flowers were detained near the monument. Later, the Moscow police detained a man with the 2nd group of disabilities on Ukrainian Boulevard, Avtozak LIVE reports. The man was standing near the monument.
In Pushkin Square, where mass protests and rallies usually take place, the police selectively checked passers-by’s documents.
In St. Petersburg, at least 15 people were detained who came to lay flowers in front of the Taras Shevchenko monument, reports OVD-Info. One of those detained in St. Petersburg told the publication that he was accused of violating coronavirus restrictions (Article 20.6.1 of the Code of Administrative Violations).
Another girl in St. Petersburg, the publication noted, was asked by a police officer before being detained who Taras Shevchenko was. To her answer – a writer – the policeman adds that Shevchenko was also “an organizer of a nationalist movement”.
Three youth movement activists “Yabloko” were detained in Yekaterinburg because they came to the announced “action in memory of all those who died in the hostilities”.
Since early morning, the police have been on duty at the “Mask of Sorrow” – a memorial at the site of the mass grave of the victims of political repressions in Yekaterinburg, reported OVD-Info.
In Korolev, near Moscow, the police arrested a girl who went out into the street with poster “I am for peace”.
In the Leningrad region, in the village of Rusko-Vysotsko, the entrepreneur and activist Dmitry Skurikhin, against whom a criminal case has been opened for repeatedly “discrediting” the Russian army, squatted with a poster “Forgive, Ukraine”, reports the 7×7 project – Horizontal Russia.
After February 24, 2022, he turned his shop in the village of Rusko-Vysotsko into an anti-war one, plastering it with posters and signs calling against the war.
In the center of Perm, activists put up a poster in the street with the inscription “YEAR OF SHAME”, and in Rostov-on-Don, participants in the anti-war picket carried a poster with the inscription “We express our support against the war in Ukraine. We mourn the victims. FOR PEACE!”.
In Vladivostok, a local resident was detained after he went to the city’s central square with an anti-war poster. Avtozak Live reports that police later released the man, without charging him.
In Irkutsk, the law enforcement authorities detained a woman who came out with a poster “I insist on the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine!”.
According to OVD-Info, a total of 54 people were detained today. The largest number of detainees is in St. Petersburg – 18 people. Another 11 people were detained in Yekaterinburg, seven in Moscow, and four each in Nizhny Novgorod and Barnaul.
According to project data arrests were made in 14 Russian cities – most of the detainees have already been released by the authorities.
