YABLOKO leader and 17 activists
arrested by the State Duma
Press Release
June 5, 2012
Police have begun arrests among the participants of walking
protests against adoption of the law restricting the constitutional
right to assembly and protest. YABLOKO leader Sergei Mitrokhin,
Galina Mikhalyova, Executive Secretary of YABLOKOs Political
Committee, Kirill Gontcharov, leader of the Youth YABLOKO,
Sergei Sokolov, municipal deputy from the YABLOKO party
18 people in total, nine of them are YABLOKO members - are
arrested by the State Duma.
The police have also used violence in arresting several civil
activists. At present the police are going on detaining activists.
Earlier in the day Sergei Mitrokhin came to the entrance
of the State Duma and explained to the police that todays
action would be carried on in the form of an advertising campaign
for a permitted picket and such an action should not be coordinated
with the authorities. However, some time later the police
began forceful detentions of the activists.
This YABLOKOs action was supported by the Moscow branch
of Solidarnost and number of other organisations. Earlier
Sergei Mitrokhin had called the organizers and the participants
of mass-scale protest actions to come to the State Duma on
the day of hearing of the law and offer rebuff to such initiatives
by the ruling party.
A permitted picket against the law toughening penalties for
rallies is to take place at the Revolution square, Moscow,
at 11:00.
