Kazakh detained over empty placard vigil

[muriel_volestrangler]

The Kazakh police took a young activist into custody after he decided to test whether he could get away with standing in the street holding a placard with no writing on it.

Aslan Sagutdinov took the placard to the central Abay Square of his native city of Oral in the west of the country, and held it up opposite the central council offices.
...
"I want this to stop, before we turn into North Korea," he said, shortly before the police arrived - led by Yerbol Kushekov, the mayor's internal affairs chief. He assured him that nobody was going to detain anyone before walking off to consult his mobile phone, Uralskaya Nedelya reports.

A traffic police patrol then turned up and bundled Mr Sagutdinov into a patrol car.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/blogs-news-from-elsewhere-48187353

He was later released without charge.

[marble falls]

1. He got a blank ticket for which he paid with a blank check.