Police ‘arrested at random’: teen detained at Navalny rally

MOSCOW: Roman, 19, says he was just out on a walk down Moscow’s central Tverskaya Street with friends when riot police grabbed him during an unauthorised rally in support of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

"Yesterday was a public holiday and there were crowds of people walking round Moscow. There were too many people and I was about to go down into the metro," he told AFP in a corridor at Moscow’s Tverskoi district court awaiting a hearing on his case.

Roman had spent hours in police custody after being detained with hundreds of others -- many teenagers or in their early 20s -- during Monday’s rally called by firebrand Kremlin critic Navalny.

A new generation which has only known the rule of President Vladimir Putin has been drawn to Navalny’s message of fighting corruption, presented in punchy YouTube videos.

Rally bystanders were drawn in as they headed to Russia Day holiday celebrations.

Roman recalled: "Five policemen grabbed me, put me in an arm lock and hit me in the stomach. I shouted ‘What are you doing? What’s happening?"

Then a riot police officer hit him with a truncheon and told him to "shut up", he said.

"The police were marching in groups of five or six and choosing people to arrest at random. Lots of people were carrying Russian flags. It was Russia Day, we had the right to be on the street," he insisted.

Roman was shoved into a police van with 20 others and spent five hours at the police station before being charged with disobeying police during his arrest and ordered to attend court the next day.

Mikhail, a 22-year-old student, was less lucky and spent the whole night at the police station. Sitting in the courthouse, he looked exhausted and his hair was tousled.

He said he was detained along with a friend on Tverskaya Street after meeting him to go to a historical reenactment event being held there for Russia Day.

"Police in helmets and wearing bullet-proof vests came out of nowhere," he said. "They cut the crowd in half. We were behind the cordon and couldn’t get out.

"I got out my phone and started filming. I wasn’t shouting any slogans. That was when they grabbed me," he said. This was not the first time that Mikhail had been arrested at a protest, however.

On March 26 during a similar unauthorised anti-corruption rally he was detained at a cafe in central Moscow.

He insisted he does not support Navalny, who intends to oppose Putin in 2018 presidential polls.

Last time, Mikhail was fined 15,000 rubles for taking part in an unauthorised protest but feared he could get a harsher punishment for a second offence.

Roman meanwhile said he faced a fine of up to 20,000 rubles or 40 hours of community service. "I am trying to defend myself but I don’t have the money for a lawyer. I can try defending myself alone but I doubt it will be possible to win," he said quietly.

In the end Roman’s hearing was delayed as police had forgotten to bring the case papers -- a common situation in Russian courts.  The same thing happened to Mikhail, with the twist that police had also forgotten his passport.