Moscow news
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13-May-2010
Moscow cops see red over blue protest
The fallout from the so-called "migalki" scandal continued this week, after participants of a public excursion aimed at highlighting the illegal use of flashing lights on the roads were detained on Manezh Square.
Activists who protest the use of flashing lights - commonly referred to as "migalki" - on the cars of the rich and powerful, have adopted the blue bucket as the symbol of their cause, but not everyone is thrilled by their approach. Riot police demanded that a member of an awareness-raising excursion remove a blue bucket from his bicycle helmet on Manezh Square this Wednesday, according to Interfax. After the request was denied, participants were detained.
No less than 20 OMON riot police officers were on hand to break up the excursion, Interfax reported. For their part, organisers insist that they were doing nothing more than taking a peaceful walk around the city center, did shout slogans and therefore did not require government permission.
"We were not provoking anyone, we were merely exercising our rights," Andrei Kondabarov, a coordinator with the Moscow chapter of the Russian Car Owners Federation, told The Moscow News. "Alexei Dozorov, the head of the Moscow Commission for Drivers' Rights, was detained first. I approached the colonel in charge to find out his last name and find out why this was happening. He obviously didn't like that, because he had me detained as well."
RIA Novosti reported that a total of 16 people were taken into custody before being released.
"They took us to the police department in Kitai-Gorod, where nobody knew what to do with us," Kondabarov said. "It was obvious to the police there that we should not have been detained to begin with. We were asked to submit written statements, and we wrote that we did nothing illegal. We were let go after rights activists showed up, having been detained for about two hours."
Kondabarov went on to say that he will be among those who will file a formal complaint this week. "I know my rights, and was surprised by the behaviour of the police."