In Moscow, at a rally “He is not our king,” riot police detained a woman who was looking for her conscript son among them

In Moscow, at the “He is not our Tsar” rally, which took place on May 5 and was marked by mass arrests and beating of protesters by Cossacks with whips, a woman was detained while she was looking for her son in the cordon. He was a conscript soldier and had to stand in the ranks of the military ensuring order in the capital on the day of the protest.

Since mothers are given visits with sons called up for military service once every three months, the woman hoped to find a young man in the ranks of the cordon and came to the rally for this, writes Mediazona with reference to Polina Nemirovskaya, human rights coordinator of Open Russia. The soldier’s mother was accompanied by her friend, and during the protest the two women walked around and asked the security forces what military unit they were from in order to find the son of one of them.

As a result, the soldier’s mother was detained by riot police; her friend asked to go into the paddy wagon with her so as not to be abandoned in such a situation. They were both kept at the police station for eight hours and released on an obligation to appear to draw up reports under Article 19.3 of the Code of Administrative Offenses (“Disobedience to a Police Officer”).

“He is not our king” rallies were held on May 5 in several Russian cities; in some cases the action was uncoordinated, including in Moscow and St. Petersburg. The processions were timed to coincide with the inauguration of Russian President Vladimir Putin. The rallies ended with harsh detentions of more than 1.5 thousand people, many of them have already been sentenced by the courts to arrests and fines. Schoolchildren were also among those detained. Cossacks with whips took part in beating the protesters.

At the same time, the Moscow authorities considered the actions of law enforcement officers who brutally dispersed Saturday’s protest to be “professional” and “complying with the law.”