Skillfully caught in the Square of Arts

Protesters in St. Petersburg passed through the entire center of the city, but not without losses

About 1,500 people, according to the official representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia Irina Volk, took part in an unauthorized protest in St. Petersburg on March 6. According to the police, 750 people were detained - half of them. People were delivered to the police departments of different regions of the city (according to the ATS-INFO ( the project was recognized by the Ministry of Justice of the Ino-Agent ), most detainees are in the departments of the Central, Frunze, Nevsky, Petrodvorsovoye regions).

According to personal observations and calculations of the correspondents of the Novaya, the official number of detainees is most likely underestimated. From 14 to 18 o’clock, the security forces filled several dozen buses and police cars with people - this is more than 750 people. According to the ATS-Info at 23.00, detained in the Northern capital at least 1150.

The action of opponents of the “special operation” on March 6 in St. Petersburg was very different from all previous ones: the exact number of those who participated in it cannot be calculated at all. Since it was almost impossible to understand who came to the city center to specifically express the protest, and who about his business. Due to the entry on March 5, by virtue of the Law on Fakes on the Russian Army, people took into account the possible negative consequences as much as possible and behaved restrainedly. They did not remove medical masks from the face. With the exception of isolated cases, they didn’t shout anything and did not have any campaign inscriptions anywhere.

The maximum that Petersburgers allowed themselves was in their hands artificial flowers of blue and yellow or clothing of the same colors.

Law enforcement officers were preparing for protests the day before. So Palace Square was prudently forced by special equipment (the very one that is always not enough to clean snow). And on Nevsky Prospekt at the Gostiny Dvor (where from February 24 every day there were protests against the “special operation” in Ukraine) in the evening of March 5, additional video surveillance cameras with the person recognition system were established. By the morning of March 6, the square in front of the Gostiny Dvor metro station was surrounded by metal fences around the perimeter. OMON fighters were on duty behind them.

In the area before the “hotel” at 12.30, dozens of employees of the Russian Guard, DPS and OMON was cruising. They missed, smoked, drank coffee and listened to music. For more than two hours, the audience here was entertained by the orchestra in police uniforms, among the others performing Okudzhava's song “Our Tenth Airborne Battalion”, well known according to the words: “We need one victory ... We will not stand at the price.”

At 13.55, one of the leaders of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Central District warned citizens about all possible reasons for the detention at the Gostiny Dvor: from covid restrictions to participation in unauthorized shares. He recalled that people can apply physical strength and special equipment to people to the department and bring to justice. Exactly five minutes later, the police started the work. It was difficult to calculate the protesters, and this did not really care about the guardians of the order. In addition to those who inspire suspicions, the security forces detained in large numbers of those who clearly went about their business, and nonresident and foreign citizens who did not even know what is happening at the “hotel”. They answered all indignations and questions: "Come with us, they will explain to you there."

For the police, pulling all his forces on one side of Nevsky Prospekt, it was a surprise when, at about 14.30, on the other side, opposite the “Gostiny Dvor”, a crowd of people passed towards Palace Square, loudly chanting protest slogans. The security forces reacted in a matter of minutes: they were divided, and some of them remained at the “hotel”, and some moved to the other side of Nevsky Prospekt. By that time, people managed to reach the intersection of the main highway of the city from the embankment of the Griboedov Canal. Here OMON blocked the road, the movement of vehicles along Nevsky was also suspended. Several dozen people, both shouting the slogans and simply in that place at that time, twisted and placed on buses (transported transport for detentions was borrowed from the Passengravtotrans). Among the detainees was the photojournalist of "New" Elena Lukyanova. She was delivered to the 12th police department, where she was held for three hours, despite the presence of a Press specialzhlet, an editorial assignment, a certificate and a protective mask. The essence of the claims is still unknown.

But not everyone was detained on Nevsky. In addition, new persons constantly joined the protesters. Those who wanted to express disagreement with the policy of the Russian authorities in relation to Ukraine, deprived of the opportunity to go to Palace, scattered along the garden, large and small sea, Gorokhovaya streets, and headed for Isaac's Square. OMON also relocated to the Isaacievsky Cathedral and the Alexander Garden. The fighters surrounded the garden and twisted several dozen people here. Around 16.30, all the "astronauts" plunged into riot police, and those columns left the Isaac's Cathedral.

For some time it seemed that it was all over. But the participants of the protest rally scattered through the streets met again in the brick lane. From there, they, chanting various slogans about the “special operation” and the Russian authorities, went to the Moika embankment, then along it - to Nevsky Prospekt. On Nevsky Prospekt, the protesters began to signal the cars as a sign of support. People crossed Nevsky Prospekt at the intersection from the embankment of the Griboedov Canal and moved along it towards the Russian Museum. In 15 - 20 minutes of this procession, no one was detained. Moreover, neither cars nor police officers nearby were observed at all. And traffic police officers did not prevent the protesters.

This behavior of the security forces surprised. But exactly until the moment when the whole crowd of the Griboedov channel and chanting protest slogans at the Russian Museum met OMONs on the embankment. People quickly turned around and rushed to flee from the fighters towards the Square of the Arts and Italian Street. However, at the intersection of Italian street and the embankment of the Griboedov Canal, the "riot police" also waited for them, and the security forces took them into the ring and the police cars and buses pulled to it. The protesters were trapped. The number of detainees in the art area clearly exceeded 100 people. Only before the eyes of the correspondents of the "new" police officers equipped people with five buses. Around 18.00 they were taken to departments. By that time, rare detention still continued on the square near the Gostiny Dvor, which was already very noticeably empty. The detainees in the art Square called acquaintances from the buses and asked: did one of the like-minded people come to the Square of the uprising? But even riot police did not get there. At 19 o’clock at the square in front of the Moscow Station, only one traffic police outfit was on duty.