Opposition youth activists on Sunday were unable to conduct a public demonstration on how to defend against police detention after almost all of the participants were hauled off by police before the event could begin.
Activists from the “We” youth group sent out invitations to the event, to be held just outside the Interior Ministry's main office, saying they would coach attendees on “how to withstand illegal police action.” The group said the instruction would be conducted jointly with city police.
But police denied that there was any agreement with the youth group, and they detained the main organizers at 1 p.m., well before the planned kick-off at 3 p.m.
Roman Dobrokhotov, leader of “We,” was detained with seven fellow activists while making preparations at the Central House of Artists, less than a kilometer from the planned site of the demonstration in south-central Moscow.
“That was a little ironic of them to call this a joint event,” police spokesman Viktor Biryukov told reporters waiting on Kaluzhskaya Ploshchad outside the ministry.
Five other members of the group were detained half an hour later as they were leaving the metro. One of them, dressed in camouflage because he had planned to play the role of a policeman in the mock exercise, shouted in protest at the officers.
He was later charged with not following police orders, while the 12 remaining detainees were accused of summoning an illegal protest, Dobrokhotov told The Moscow Times.
Speaking by telephone from a police station, Dobrokhotov argued that the detentions were illegal because he had not planned a political protest. “We carried no symbols and uttered no slogans. We just wanted to gather for a discussion as private citizens. They cannot forbid that,” he said.
Dobrokhotov is famous for heckling a speech by President Dmitry Medvedev in December 2008, shouting that human rights are not respected in Russia and that the country has no civil society.
The planned gathering Sunday followed in the wake of a series of scandals involving criminal and violent behavior by members of the police force. The Kremlin has promised reforms, but critics say they have been largely cosmetic so far.
Opposition and human rights activists have called for a larger demonstration to call for reforms of the police and the Interior Ministry on March 6.