Hundreds arrested at Moscow election protest: "Russia will be free!"

[groundloop]

Source: CBS News

Russian police wrestled with demonstrators and arrested hundreds of people in central Moscow on Saturday at a protest demanding that opposition candidates be allowed to run for the Moscow city council. The dispute comes as the Kremlin is struggling with how to deal with strongly opposing views in its sprawling capital of 12.6 million people.

OVD-Info, an organization that monitors political arrests, said 520 people had been detained an hour after the protest started. Earlier, the city police department said the number was 295, according to state news agency Tass.

Lines of helmeted riot police tried to push back the protesters in Moscow, some of whom resisted physically. Demonstrators shouted slogans including "Russia will be free!"

Many videos and images posted to social media appear to show riot police strike protesters with batons. Some demonstrators reported injuries.



Read more: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/moscow-protests-russian-police-arrest-hundreds-election-demonstration-today-2019-07-27-live-updates/

[Scarsdale]

1. If nothing is done about

tRump and the traitors in the gop, THIS will be cities all over the US in the not too distant future. Fighting for a chance to have our voices heard.

[pangaia]

2. Coming to America... shortly....

better believe it...

[Hotler]

20. Yes. Coming to a city near you. They will round up all of us libtards.

They didn't build a shit pot full of FEMA camps for nothing.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Summer time in Moscow.

Our lazy ass press reported something,who would have guessed. BTW,Russian people are under extreme stress due to economic problems . Putin has been issuing Revenue Bonds almost Monthly via his Oil and Gas Companies in order to raise money to pay the Pensioners. Hey,the Sanctions that are still place are having a brutal effect on Putin.

Russia is a Extraction based economy. They have to try and export as much crap as necessary to raise foreign Currency to keep the Populace from revolting due to Hunger and lack of purchasing power.

[theophilus]

4. Sic semper tyrannis n/t

[Qutzupalotl]

5. If Putin can somehow be toppled

this global rise to fascism can be halted. I think he more than anyone else is responsible. Trump and Bolsonaro are symptoms, but Putin is the cause.

I salute the brave protestors in Russia.

[Wellstone ruled]

7. Half had

acquaintance's and neighbors from Russia. The Russian people are fierce in their defense of Country over any Leader.

No one has even explored what is happening out in the Hinter Lands of Russia. Here is a example that needs exploring,Ford Motor closed plants in three separate Cities. Talk about economic turmoil. We know what happens here when a Auto Plant goes away. My guess is,it is most likely three to four times worse. Understand other Foreign owned Companies have or are planning to do the same.

[Igel]

9. Yes, they have.

Photo narratives, written narratives, film narratives.

It's pretty hopeless in a lot of the territory. In many cases, government-supported jobs just went away. In other cases, it's because there's no demand for what's produced or extracted.

For a lot of people, though, it's less "things have gotten worse since 1989" and more "things were better in the '70s and before--and look at how people in the cities are doing so much better!" Because, of course, urban and political centers run things for helping their own populations ("fairness&quot and not the hinterland, and the solution, as far as the city folk go, is "move here and be like wonderful, awesome, me!"

The problems with most Russians, for DUers, in a nutshell, is that they're not like liberal Americans. Their value set isn't necessarily the same, their ranking of values is most certainly different. Their value set is more like older, more conservative Americans, but still with rather different rankings. (No, the values we have don't necessarily have to be the same; and their relative importance or ranking is really important.)

[Wellstone ruled]

11. Well said.

Yes their values are much more Conservative than ours. But,they do favor Country over Leadership when it comes to corruption. The recent protest's are a insight as to something coming down the road. Never forget the saying,empty bellies mean empty heads. History is replete of this saying and the end results.

[Igel]

12. Remember Egypt?

If we can just get rid of Mubarak, what a wonderful country Egypt it would be.

And they got Morsi. And then Al-Sisi, and things wound up worse.

Or get rid of the king of France--and unicorns will fart rainbows in the streets of France. Except for the reign of terror.

Or perhaps Libya, there's a great case. Dispose of Gaddhafi and things will be just great. Nothing like the splendid state of affairs when Saddam Hussein was disposed of. How'd that Benghazi thing work out?

And don't forget the madurazo that whacked Venezuela. Viva la revolucion! is inversely paralleled by "Muera la gente!"

People say, "I'd like to see this change. What could possibly go wrong, after all, it's something I think is good." Experience should teach a bit of humility, but not in politics where one horrible disaster after another is met with surprise, then denial, then a dose of nepenthe, followed by demanding some other change that will usually end in disaster, met with surprise, denial, and more intravenous nepenthe. We only tend to remember the good things we're responsible for or promoted, after all. (And usually the bad things that people we don't like do.)

The problem with toppling Putin is who'd replace him. El'tsin was better. People didn't like the sot, but progress was being made in disposing of corrupt practices and slowly getting rid of some problems. The oligarchs remained, of course. Putin brought them to heel--much like Hitler brought industrialists to heel. But Russia's far more corrupt now than when the economy was getting better before Putin was elected. (Unemployment's a lagging indicator. The economy was well on the mend before Putin took over, and due to stupidity he was able to claim he was responsible.) Russians preferred stability, and they got stability. The dodged the bullet in 1991.

[Qutzupalotl]

13. Point taken. There is a difference, though,

in that Putin is subverting democracies all over the world and promoting fascists using techniques like what they used here, including microtargeting with inflammatory memes and exploiting internal divisions. That makes him unique and a lynchpin, IMO.

Mind you, I’m not suggesting we intervene. But seeing people like Navalny and the protest movement gives me hope for a more democratic Russia. I am clear-eyed that there is no guarantee that what follows will not be worse, but right now Putin has his boot on the neck of the very notion of democratic self-government, and he should be shunned, resisted and ridiculed in any way possible.

[tavernier]

24. Yes, and this is by no means a new development.

This has been his plan for decades. When I was in Latvia 20 years ago, everyone I met warned me of this. I was just a visiting American, a nobody, but to them it was important that I carried the warning home.

[Cryptoad]

6. Not if Trump has anything to do with it!

[Farmer-Rick]

8. All this while the country has 22% poverty and a $200 billion rainy day fund for Putin to play with

"$200 billion in rainy-day funds is prudent but bad for growth." https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2018/11/21/duma-approves-russian-budget-for-2019-2021-projects-62-billion-surplus-a63563

"The October study placed nearly 36 percent of Russians in the "consumer risk zone," with incomes that allow them to buy decent food and clothes but little or no disposable income, making the purchase of "items for longer usage...extremely difficult." https://www.rferl.org/a/study-22-percent-of-russians-live-in-poverty-36-percent-in-risk-zone-/29613059.html

All the while short man Putin keeps $200 billion for his use to bribe stupid Americans and make the majority of his countrymen poorer. He's a coward because he knows he would lose in a fair election.

[47of74]

10. I'm sure fuck face is taking notes and licking his chops for the day he can do that here

[paleotn]

14. Chickens are coming home to roost....

Not a good sign for the Russian kleptocrats. That's the thing with kleptocracies. They're invariably houses of cards and when they collapse, those plutocrats who don't escape with suitcases stuffed with foreign currency end up hanging from lamp posts.

[moondust]

15. More than a thousand arrested.

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49125045

[Blue_Tires]

16. Greenwald, Snowden, Taibbi, Ames, Johnson, etc.

were unavailable for comment...

[YOHABLO]

17. We often read where Putin has a huge approval rate. I'm skeptical.

[bronxiteforever]

18. Kick and recommend for visibility.

[Mc Mike]

19. Keep fighting, pro-democracy Russians.

[Marcuse]

21. It would probably be a bad idea for DU posters to set up some pro democracy rallies.

[SunSeeker]

22. These protesters are incredibly brave. They are literally risking their lives.

[Evolve Dammit]

25. Agreed. Could be coming here and I REALLY want to be wrong.

[JI7]

23. so Putin attacking other countries elections isn't doing anything to make their lives better ?

[Kurt V.]

26. russia will be free. um no.