Russian Riot Police Assault Protesters
If you still think Russia is a democracy, you’re sadly mistaken. In just 9 years, Putin and his thugs have completely destroyed any semblance of a democracy in Russia.
Of course, if America keeps heading down the current path it is on, we too can kiss our democracy goodbye…
CLICK HERE to watch the video from the BBC
Update: Gateway Pundit has posted the following video:
Police break up Russian protests
BBC
Russian riot police have forcibly broken up a rally being held in the eastern city of Vladivostok.
About 500 people had gathered in the city’s central square to demonstrate against a new tax on imported cars.
Witnesses said police officers kicked protesters, damaged journalists’ equipment and made dozens of arrests.
Vladivostok, one of several cities holding protests, depends heavily on car imports from Japan and critics say the tax could push prices up by 50%.
The tax is intended to help prop up Russia’s domestic car industry and prevent people buying cheaper, imported products.
Protests against it began a week ago and have also been held in at least nine other cities in far eastern Russia, local Russian media report.
Most of the demonstrations were dispersed by police, said the independent Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy.
More are planned for Moscow and other cities.
Economy fears
Witnesses said the several hundred people who had gathered in central Vladivostok were singing and dancing but that the rally was peaceful with no sign of political placards.
Some of the protesters were reported to have been shouting slogans against the Prime Minister, Vladimir Putin.
The protesters were ordered to disperse by police who told them the rally was unauthorised, before members of the Omon riot police began to arrest people, hauling them into waiting vans, said witnesses.
Several journalists were detained and there were reports that others were injured or had their cameras and recording equipment damaged by the police.
“They ran into the crowd, grabbed people and started pushing them to the ground, taking them into cars,” protester Yevgeniy Makarov told Russian media.
“If someone started struggling … they started twisting their arms, kicking them in the back. Very many people were taken into vans, just thrown there.”
A 62-year-old woman who saw the incident said the police were also arresting passers-by.
“They started taking people away without any sort of comment,” she said.
The BBC’s Richard Galpin in Moscow says protests against the new tax have been fuelled by the severe impact of the global economic crisis on Russia.
The country’s industrial output dropped 10.8% during November and its reliance on raw material exports means it has been been hit by falling oil prices and a reduction in demand.
But such open displays of anger are an unusual sight in Russia, where the government keeps tight control of the public and the media, says our correspondent.
Explore posts in the same categories: Abuse of Power, Cold War II, Communism, politics, Russian Connection
21 December, 2008 at 9:00 pm
Who on Earth thinks Russia’s a democracy?
21 December, 2008 at 9:47 pm
I’d bet thier ‘security’ is SPETZNAZ or one of the newer Ruskie SpecOps groups…
21 December, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Akira,
Obviously you missed our little episode with a bunch of Russian Nashi almost two years ago. They kept trying with all their might to convince us that Putin was very democratic, a good guy, etc…
You can read the comments here:
http://doctorbulldog.wordpress.com/2007/04/24/russian-edict-america-is-an-enemy
Even our good buddy and occasional commenter over the years, Che, had this to say,
“From what you wrote above I can conclude that you either have no idea what communist regime really was, or what is really going on in Russia now, or both. And it also seems that you totally ignore that 70-80% of russians support Putin’s course.
What exactly do you mean by returning back to communist government style?”
The language got so bad that we had to close the comments on that page…
Can’t say I didn’t warn them…
Cheers
21 December, 2008 at 10:54 pm
It is called “OMON” (special purpose police unit), sort of Police variety SpetsNaz (shorthand for SpecialPurpose) where many are hired straight from military SpetsNaz.
Yes, there is not much left of Russia’s democracy if there ever was one.
But I could not gather from the clip that democracy was being abused.
More like slashed/glued pieces attempting to show one side and hide another.
21 December, 2008 at 11:00 pm
Of course Russia’s a thugocracy.
But Russia is more democratic than the USSR.
It’s more democratic than it was when Yeltsin presided over the big mafia bust-out.
Many (most?) Russians do seem to support Putin’s gang, most of them because they see no better alternative.
And Russia’s a lot more democratic than Communist China or America’s allies in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Afghanistan, etc.
I notice in that link Ronin wrote:
“The real issues here is American’s are not the enemy of the Russian people. Your government could change that.”
The American government could change that too by abandoning the absurd idea that Georgia belongs in NATO.
I don’t see any good reason for Russia and the US to have antagonistic relations.
21 December, 2008 at 11:10 pm
Re: “if America keeps heading down the current path it is on, we too can kiss our democracy goodbye”
You’re right there.
You must know that Obama is more of a socialist than Putin or Mededev?
And the only reason people like Pelosi and Kerry say that believe in democracy is because that’s how things are still done in the US.
Remember that Kerry was almost president and he’s on record saying there’s no difference between democracy and communism “as long as people are happy”.
If it wasn’t for the wisdom of the founding fathers and the strength of the US constitution, America would have went (officially) communist a long time ago.