Funny how Russia’s esteemed riot police, whose noble truncheons are so effective at bashing the heads of liberal democracy activists, couldn’t quite summon the same spirit against a much larger and more dangerous group of ultra-nationalist hooligans.
A hard core group of Spartak Moscow fans rampaged through the capital on Saturday, shouting xenophobic slogans and threatening ethnic minorities in retaliation for the gang-related murder of their leader, thought to have been killed by a Caucasian. Yet, despite the fact that cars were set ablaze and thirty people were injured, “the police tried to minimize the use of force during Saturday’s rally” before being completely overrun!
Following swift international outrage that Russia still hasn’t contained its skinheads, Medvedev vowed (on Twitter, obv!) to crack down on demonstrators.
So, when pro-democracy activists attended a fully authorised rally the following day, their peaceful anti-Putin chants were met with…a riot police charge.
Who says the Kremlin doesn’t keep its word?
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