FINLAND/RUSSIA:

FINNISH YOUTHS STAGE PROTEST AGAINST THE ARBITRARINESS OF THE RUSSIAN POLICE:

(FROM AVTONOM)

This is a report from the Russian anarchist site Avtonom. The original in Russian is at the site.

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Finnish youths stage a protest against the arbitrariness of the Russian militia

In Helsinki, in front of the Russian Embassy on April 18 activists of the youth movement held a protest against violence on the part of Russian law enforcement and the de facto ban on gatherings for their Russian peers, said a BBC correspondent .

In total it was attended by about 30 people, who kept shouting slogans in English, Russian and Finnish: "Stop police arbitrariness in Russia", "No to militia violence ".

One of the organizers of the picket said that their primary motivation was to express their condemnation of the practice of impunity for violence against the citizens of Russia by the security forces. It is noteworthy that the embassy had no reaction to the demonstration.

The rally was attended by the city police of Helsinki, but they did not interfere in the demonstration.. Under Finnish law, a notification of pickets is required. Organizers have to call the police, no later than six hours before the event.

Recall that in Moscow on April 11 protesters were dispersed by arbitrary action on the part of the militia. The militia attacked the participants of the protest action, after seeing posters saying "no police lawlessness." As a result, about 30 people spent the night in police custody. Anna Orlova