Detentions of Buddhists in Moscow and the Moscow region

On March 27, police officers detained a bus with Buddhists arriving from Kalmykia on Kashirskoye Highway near Moscow, who were going to take part in protests near the Foreign Ministry and the Chinese Embassy. By the evening of the same day, the arrivals were still not released.

The protests were timed to coincide with the official visit to Moscow by Chinese President Hu Jintao. The Buddhists wanted to protest the plight of the Tibetans in China. The Moscow authorities did not give their consent to hold pickets.

According to Credo.ru , there were more policemen at the picketing sites than picketers. So, at the building of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a bus with OMON fighters was waiting and several people in civilian clothes were on duty.

Two women were detained near the PRC embassy, ​​who had come at the call of the Kalmyk Regional Society of Friends of Tibet. When the visitors unfurled the flag of free Tibet, an employee of the embassy rushed to them, demanding that the policemen immediately arrest the picketers. After the detention, the Buddhist women were kept for 4 hours in the Ramenki police department, where they were issued protocols on an administrative offense under Art. 20.2 of the Code of Administrative Offenses and ordered to arrive at the police department by 10 am on March 28 to go to court.

It was assumed that the detained Buddhists from Kalmykia would hand over to the head of the PRC a petition, which, in particular, reads: “We, expressing the opinion of the people of Kalmykia, various organizations, invite Mr. Hu Jintao to sit down at the negotiating table with the spiritual and secular leader of the Tibetan people, the laureate Nobel Peace Prize by His Holiness the Dalai Lama XIV. In addition, we insist that the Buddhists of Russia have no obstacles from the Chinese leadership to communicate with their spiritual teacher."

Sources

• Bus with Buddhists from Kalmykia detained near Moscow // Portal-Credo.ru. 2007. March 28.