The independent monitoring group OVD-Info reports that 756 people have been arrested in 37 cities, with about half of the arrests in Moscow.
More than 750 people have been arrested in cities across Russia for protests against Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine, which is now in its third week.
The independent monitoring group OVD-Info said police arrested at least 756 people during demonstrations in 37 Russian cities, about half of them in the Russian capital Moscow.
Since President Vladimir Putin ordered an invasion of Ukraine on land, air and sea on Feb. 24, OVD-Info has reported more than 14,000 arrests in connection with anti-war activities, according to their website. Of these, more than 170 people were taken into custody.
The Kremlin passed a law that went into effect on March 4 criminalizing independent coverage of the war and protesting against the war with up to 15 years in prison.
Police officers detain a man during a protest against Russia’s military actions in Ukraine on Manezhnaya Square in central Moscow. [AFP]
“It’s very difficult for people to go out into the streets and protest,” Al Jazeera’s Bernard Smith said in a report from Moscow.
“Anyone who tries to get out or looks like a protester is brutally dragged away,” he said, adding that in one case a woman was dragged away just for holding a blank piece of white paper.
A journalist from the AFP news agency who attended the protest in Moscow witnessed at least a dozen arrests and said the police took everyone away without press releases.
According to AFP, the young woman shouted “peace to the world” as she was taken away by two police officers.
According to an AFP correspondent, some OMON fighters wore the letter “Z” in the color of the Russian flag on their helmets. The letter, seen on Russian tanks in Ukraine, has become a symbol of support for what Moscow calls its “special military operation” to “denazify” Ukraine.
Let’s see why the supporters of Russia’s war in Ukraine perceived the letter Z ⤵️
Read more: https://t.co/RpwnnVR6jw pic.twitter.com/spX4nfHNx7
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) March 13, 2022
In Russia’s second city, St. Petersburg, AFP reported numerous arrests, including a protester being dragged across the ground. The central Nevsky Prospekt of the city was blocked by the police, and dozens of police vans were parked along the road. According to AFP, several journalists were also detained.
Kristina, 20, wearing a yellow hat and blue jacket, said she was “protesting” by wearing the colors of the Ukrainian flag.
“It’s scary to go out, of course, everyone is detained. Many of my friends have been detained in the past few days, some have even been expelled from the university,” she told AFP.
Over the weekend, police arrested more than 5,000 protesters across Russia.
Russian police officers detain protesters during a rally against Russia’s military actions in Ukraine in St. Petersburg. [Anatoly Maltsev/EPA]