Politie heeft met harde hand einde gemaakt aan pro-democratische demonstratie in Moskou (en)
Russian riot police on Monday (31 May) violently broke up a small-scale pro-democracy rally, causing potential embarrassment at a summit with the EU.
The police swooped down on a crowd of about 1,000 protesters at Triumfalnaya Square in Moscow. Reuters reported that the activists, including young women and elderly people, were beaten, dragged along the ground and thrown into vans.
Police also dispersed a 300-strong rally in Nevsky Prospekt and Palace Square in St Petersburg. An opposition leader, Boris Nemtsov, told Reuters that the authorities used softer methods because an MEP, Finnish Green Heidi Hautala, had joined the Palace Square group.
Similar protests involving a few dozen people only also took place in Rostov-on-Don, where the EU and Russia on Monday convened for a regular summit, and in Kemerovo in Siberia.
The demonstrations were not timed to coincide with the EU event but take place on the last day of every month which has 31 days to highlight Article 31 of the Russian constitution, which says people have a right to peaceful protests.
Remarks by Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin at the weekend also spurred on the activists.
Speaking at an unusual and highly-publicised meeting with artists, including known dissenter and rock musician Yury Shevchuk, on 29 May, Mr Putin had said: "If I see that people go into the streets not just to talk or promote themselves but to say something important and relevant and draw the government's attention to some problem, there is nothing wrong with that. I will thank them ... And I mean it."
The EU-Russia summit is to focus on prospects for visa-free travel and a new "Partnership for Modernisation," which is to see EU companies launch high-tech joint ventures with Russian firms. But the Moscow violence has highlighted problems in both areas.
German Green MEP Werner Schulz, who on Monday went to protest outside the Russian mission to the EU in Brussels, said in a statement that human rights abuses in Russia are a visa issue because they encourage people to flee to the EU. Several EU countries have also said that Russia should do more to improve the rule of law under the auspices of the modernisation scheme.
Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch has pointed out that last year's murders of several high-profile campaigners in North Caucasus, including Natalya Estemirova, have gone unpunished.
EU officials say that human rights concerns are always raised during behind-closed-doors talks at the summits. But EU leaders rarely criticise Russia openly on its home turf, with the notable exception of German Chancellor Angela Merkel in 2007.
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