Translated material
To enhance the absurdity
OVD-Info publishes stories from activists about arrests near the Kremlin on April 20, 2013.
Irina Kalmykova: “Every week we hold a walk on Red Square in defense of political prisoners. Last Saturday another walk was held. People with white ribbons came to the execution site. We walked up the steps and sang and waved our ribbons.”
Alexey Davydov: “On Saturday, April 20, as is my custom, I came to Manezhnaya Square to take part in single pickets in support of the May 6 prisoners. At the same time, he participated in the dissemination of Boris Nemtsov’s report “The Life of a Galley Slave.”
From the very first minutes of the picket participants' appearance on the square, there was a large number of police officers who showed close attention to us. They didn’t leave us a single step; some people in civilian clothes were filming us with video cameras.
At the end of the pickets, we decided to walk around Red Square with white ribbons. Since all public actions in this place are prohibited, we agreed in advance that we would not have any posters and we would not shout any slogans.
We calmly walked to the place of execution, where we stopped and began to communicate with each other. We had white ribbons in our hands.”
Irina Kalmykova: “Two Left Front activists unfolded a photo of Udaltsov with the inscription “Freedom”. They were immediately detained. After that, an elderly man came up and unfolded a white sheet of A-3 paper . The police rushed to detain him.”
Ekaterina Ryzhova: “First they detained two guys with a photograph of Udaltsov near Lobnoye Mesto, and then six more who were just standing near the paddy wagon.
Alexey Davydov: “One of the participants in the Solidarity movement picked up... a blank sheet of white A3 paper. And then, as in Melnichenko’s famous speech, we witnessed that the level of insanity in our country exceeded the standard of living: the police decided to detain this man. His name was Vladimir Ionov, he was over 70 years old, and almost all the police officers were fit to be his sons or grandsons. Despite this, the police, without introducing themselves or explaining the reasons for the arrest, roughly grabbed him and almost dragged him to a paddy wagon.”
Ekaterina Ryzhova: “We, indignant at the brazen lawless actions, shouted “Shame!” And everyone who had white sheets took them out and began to hold them over their heads. One friend even went and bought white cotton wool to reinforce the absurdity of the employees’ behavior.”
Irina Kalmykova: “People began to prevent the police from carrying out an illegal arrest. And then the police detained these people in harsh manner. Without hesitation, citizens began to take out blank sheets of paper and pick them up. About twenty people held blank sheets of paper, the constitution, the police law - whoever could get what they could.
Well, many of them didn’t have sheets. Then Alex Sidonov ran to GUM to buy sheets. But they weren’t there either. And he bought cotton candy."
Ekaterina Ryzhova: “Passers and even foreigners passing by asked in surprise what was happening, and we explained to them that people were being detained for going for a walk on Red Square with white ribbons, white sheets. They were sincerely surprised by what was happening.”
Irina Kalmykova: “Everyone stood with sheets of paper, the police did not react. Then Nadya Mityushkina wrote “Newton’s Third Law F-12 = F-21 ” on her sheet of paper. The police looked at it for a long time, but did not take action.”
Ekaterina Ryzhova: “When a lot of white sheets appeared in our hands, the police became quiet, not knowing what to do with us. But after some time, they still could not stand it and began to detain.”
Irina Kalmykova: “Borodin talked on the phone for a long time, but did not give an order for detention. Then the citizens stood in a circle, surrounding the execution site, and one activist wrote “freedom for the prisoners of May 6” on the asphalt with chalk. We stood for a long time, the police did not see the inscription, and then on the other side she wrote: “Putin is a thief.” We stood there a little longer and decided to take a walk when Borodin gave the order to detain us. The policemen, like helpful dogs, rushed into the crowd. People covered for each other and did not allow the police to make arrests. As a result, 16 people were detained. Everyone."
Alexey Davydov : “Outraged by the ridiculous behavior of the police, we also pulled out sheets of clean white paper and raised them up. For some time no one touched us. But the increased attention of citizens and foreigners to our group infuriated the police, and detentions resumed: activists began to be grabbed, their arms twisted, and taken away towards paddy wagons parked nearby. The insanity grew stronger. One of the police officers grabbed me by the shoulder, grabbed a piece of paper, and asked: “What do you have there?” Seeing that the sheet was pristine, he asked the officer: “What should I do with it, he has nothing, should I let him go?” “So what?” his colleague muttered, “this is not a reason, take it.” So I, along with other participants in the Solidarity movement and other activists, were detained for... I don’t know why.”
Sergey Kochetkov: “Unfortunately, my participation in this event was very short-lived. Being late, I ended up at Lobnoye Mesto by the time they started filling the second paddy wagon, where I ended up 5 minutes after my appearance.
The detention (or rather the kidnapping) took place in complete legal chaos. The police officers did not introduce themselves, did not explain the reason for the arrest, they simply pulled people out of the ranks of the protesters and escorted them to a paddy wagon. They did this relatively correctly and without much enthusiasm. Those who did not want to go on their own were carried in their arms, considering this reluctance as “resistance to employees.”
A good company of 16 people gathered in the paddy wagon, many of whom I knew from previous protests. All the way, from Red Square to the Yakimanka police station, we sang revolutionary songs, shouted anti-Putin chants and decorated the paddy wagon with white symbols. In general, we had a fun and useful time.”
Ekaterina Ryzhova: “The following incident occurred at the Yakimanka police station. Those employees who began to register us first decided to draw up protocols under Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses for me and two more of my friends, and to conduct preventive conversations with the rest. But it turned out that the employees who took us to the department were not there. And those who received us cannot draw up a protocol on delivery. Well, our guys, of course, decided to “add fuel to the fire” by scaring the police officers with the fact that in court they would have to tell how they detained us (and they didn’t detain us!). Therefore, after swearing among themselves, the “friendly” team of policemen on duty decided to hold professional conversations with us. Although it was not they who had these conversations, but us with them.”
Sergei Kochetkov: “As it turned out, we were taken to the police station for a preventative conversation. The cops wrote reports, and we talked to them, explaining that serving in the occupation police was not good. I got the impression that they themselves understand this.”
Alexey Davydov: “They brought us to the Yakimanka police station. I hoped that at least there they would explain to me the reasons for the detention. But no, there was no time for us there, since the employees themselves did not know what to do with us. They painfully decided (for about 4 hours) what to do with us. In the end, we agreed that we need to have a preventive conversation and let him go. What was happily written about in the reports. There was no time left for the conversation itself, and we were taken out into the street, where our comrades, who had come to support us, were waiting for us. No one remembered the law among the police officers that day...”
Sergei Kochetkov: “Already half an hour after our arrest, a support group appeared at the gates of the Yakimanka police station. They brought us water and everyone’s favorite “State Department” cookies. And a couple of hours later, the same support group greeted us like heroes (in my opinion, not justified, but still nice).”
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