Security forces arrested more than 1,300 people in anti-mobilization protests in Russia on Wednesday, a rights group said, hours after President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s first military deployment since World War II.
The independent protest observation group OVD-Info said that according to its own statements, more than 1,311 people from 38 Russian cities had been detained by late evening.
It said those numbers included at least 502 in Moscow and 524 in St. Petersburg, Russia’s second most populous city. Unauthorized rallies are illegal under Russian anti-protest laws.
Russian Interior Ministry official Irina Volk said in a statement quoted by Russian news outlets that officials had called off attempts to stage small-scale protests.
“In some regions there have been attempts to stage illicit actions that have brought together an extremely small number of participants,” Volk was quoted as saying.
“These were all stopped. And those who broke the law were arrested and taken to police stations for investigation and their responsibility determined.”
One-way flights from Russia soared on Wednesday and quickly sold out after Putin ordered 300,000 reservists to be called up immediately.
The opposition movement Vesna called for protests, saying: “Thousands of Russian men, our fathers, brothers and husbands, are being thrown into the meat grinder of war. What will they die for? What will mothers and children cry for?”
Riot police arrest protesters in Moscow. Photo: Alexander Zemlianichenko/APThe Moscow Prosecutor’s Office warned that organizing or participating in protests could be punished with up to 15 years in prison. Authorities have issued similar warnings ahead of other protests. On Wednesday were the first nationwide anti-war protests since fighting began in late February.
AFP journalists in central Moscow said at least 50 people were arrested by police in anti-riot gear on a main shopping street.
In St. Petersburg, AFP reporters saw police surround a small group of protesters and arrest them one by one and load them onto a bus.
The demonstrators chanted “No mobilization!”
“Everyone is afraid. I’m for peace and I don’t want to have to shoot. But coming out now is very dangerous, otherwise many more people would come,” said protester Vasily Fedorov, a student who wears a pacifist symbol on his chest.
“I came with the intention of attending the rally but it seems they have already arrested everyone. This regime has condemned itself and is destroying its youth,” said Alexei, a 60-year-old resident who declined to give his last name.
Russian police officers detain a protester during an unauthorized anti-war protest on Arbat Street in Moscow. Photo: Contributor/Getty Images“Why are you serving Putin, a man who has been in power for 20 years!” A young protester shouted at a police officer.
“I came to say that I am against war and mobilization,” Oksana Sidorenko, a student, told AFP. “Why are you making decisions about my future for me? I’m scared for myself, for my brother,” she added.
Alina Skvortsova, 20, said she hopes the Russians will soon understand the nature of the Kremlin’s offensive in neighboring Ukraine. “Once they really understand, despite the fear, they will take to the streets,” she said.
In Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, police dragged some of the 40 demonstrators arrested at an anti-war rally into buses. A woman in a wheelchair called out, in a reference to the Russian President: “Damn bald ‘madman’. He’s going to drop a bomb on us and we’re all still protecting him. I’ve said enough.”
The Interfax news agency quoted Russia’s Interior Ministry as saying it had crushed attempts to “organize unauthorized gatherings”.
All demonstrations have been halted and those who committed “violations” have been arrested and taken away by police pending an investigation and prosecution, she added.
With Portal, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse