Thousands hold unauthorised protest, opposition leader Udaltsov detained скачать в хорошем качестве

Thousands hold unauthorised protest, opposition leader Udaltsov detained

(15 Dec 2012) 1. Various of opposition protesters laying flowers at the Solovetsky Stone (a monument to victims of political repression during the Soviet era, named after the Solovetsky archipelago, the site of early prison camps considered the beginning of the Gulag system) 2. Close-up of flowers 3. Protesters applauding 4. Woman laying flowers at the memorial 5. Close-up of flowers 6. Left Front opposition party leader Sergei Udaltsov at protest, speaking 7. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Sergei Udaltsov, leader of the Left Front opposition party: "They (Russian government) fear (their) citizens. They fear their people. But you can't forbid the people (from coming). That's why I came here today for my comrades, for Leonid Razvozzhayev, Konstantin Lebedev, for Taisa Osipova (all opposition activists currently in prison). That's why I'm here picketing." 8. Follows on from 7: Udaltsov being detained by police 9. Boris Nemtsov, former Deputy Prime Minister and now opposition leader 10. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Boris Nemtsov, former Deputy Prime Minister, now opposition leader: "The people who have come here are free, honest, and decent people. I'm very proud of our people, of Muscovites, of Russians. They (the government) wanted to scare us. There's a helicopter flying over us and they've surrounded us with policemen. They think that we're slaves, but we're not. We're free people, and thank God for that." 11. Wide of protesters laying flowers at the memorial 12. Man laying flowers at the memorial 13. Man crying 14. Memorial with flowers 15. Close-up of flowers STORYLINE Thousands of opposition supporters gathered in central Moscow on Saturday for an unauthorised rally and at least one prominent opposition figure has been detained. Opposition leaders had applied for permission to hold a march marking a year since a wave of massive protests against Russian President Vladimir Putin and the government, but city authorities refused to allow the gathering. Soon after Putin returned to the presidency in May, Russia passed a law harshly raising the fines for participating in unauthorised gatherings. There was a heavy police presence on Saturday around the activists who went to Lubyanka Square for the rally. The square is outside the headquarters of the Federal Security Service, the main successor agency of the Soviet KGB (Komitet Gosudarstvennoy Bezopasnosti). Several prominent opposition figures, including Sergei Udaltsov, leader of the Left Front, were detained. Police reported that besides Udaltsov, opposition leader Alexei Navalny had also been detained, along with other prominent figures including blogger Ilya Yashin and Ksenia Sobchak, a glamorous TV personality. "They (Russian government) fear (their) citizens. They fear their people. But you can't forbid the people (from coming)," Udaltsov said before being detained. Former Deputy Prime Minister, now opposition leader, Boris Nemtsov was also at the rally. "The people who have come here are free, honest, and decent people. I'm very proud of our people, of Muscovites, of Russians," he said. The square houses the Solovetsky Stone, a monument to victims of political repression during the Soviet era. The stone comes from the Solovestky archipelago, the site of early prison camps considered the beginning of the Gulag system. Many rally participants laid flowers at the stone. About 90 minutes into the rally, police arrested about a dozen people who were walking around the monument chanting "Free political prisoners." Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...