In several Russian cities, security forces cordoned off squares where rallies against internet blocking were supposed to take place today. People who came there began to be detained. OVD-Info reported this. 🔷At Moscow’s cordoned-off Bolotnaya Square, security forces ordered everyone gathered there to disperse. People were pushed into nearby streets. One young woman was taken to a police van after she shouted: “Dear OMON and police, we need your protection.”
The total number of detainees in Moscow rose to eight. One man was detained with a sign reading “No to war.” Two of those detained are minors.
Just before the planned rally against internet blocking, workers began painting benches in the square.
🔷 In St. Petersburg, the square where a rally against the blocking of Telegram was supposed to be held was also cordoned off by security forces. The garden in the square was fenced off with a tall metal barrier and warning tape. Two people were detained, and one of them has already been released.
Photo: “Bumaga”
The authorities tried to make it appear that work was being carried out in the square. Workers are inside the garden. However, there had been no notice of repairs there, “Bumaga” writes.
🔷 In central Voronezh, activist Nikita Nesmeyanov was detained while holding a solo protest against blocking. He came out with a libertarian flag and a sign that read: “Stop slowing us down. Stop blocking us. For a free internet!!! Against blocking. Against censorship!!!”.
🔷 In Yekaterinburg, police and the “Russian Community” are on duty at the site of the canceled rally. As an eyewitness told “Mediazona,” there were no detentions in the square. However, members of the “Community” drove several people away from the Lenin monument.
🔷 In Kaluga, politician Konstantin Larionov was detained for posting leaflets in support of a free internet, he said in his Telegram channel.
🔷 In Chelyabinsk, local Maoists hung a banner against the blocking of Telegram.
Photo: Maoist Union
Today, rallies against the blocking of Telegram and in support of internet freedom were supposed to take place across Russia, but the authorities rejected all applications on far-fetched grounds.
Five applicants for the Moscow rally against internet blocking were arrested for 15 days under the article on “disobeying police.” The organizer of a similar rally in Tomsk was also detained on the eve of the protest.