RUSSIA:

ST. PETERSBURG PICKET AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY:

Russian police have an historical reputation for repression and brutality, no matter what the regime is. In recent years the growing Russian anarchist movement has been the target of Russian police repression. But the anarchists continue to fight back. The following is a recent report translated from the Russian anarchist news site Avtonom about a recent picket in St. Petersburg.

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At the Palace,a mass picket against militia arbitrariness

About 40 people gathered picket on May 15 against militia lawlessness in St. Petersburg. Young people, mostly informal/unorganized, distributed informational leaflets to passersby, talking to same, and several people played musical instruments. The event was filmed by nearby UBOP officers. Several policemen in plain clothes were walking around the sobravshisya. The action took place calmly and without any provocation by the police. According to the http://piter.indymedia.org/node/4745

RUSSIAN FEDERATION:

DECLARATION OF THE ST. PETERSBURG ANTI-FASCIST RESISTANCE GROUP:

The following is the declaration of the Anti-Fascist Resistance of St. Petersburg in Russia about recent events in that city involving clashes between them and ultra right groups protesting the Kosovan declaration of independence. Molly has previously posted the statement of the International Secretariat of the AIT on this matter, and it should be noted that the Russian comrades agree with this statement. While Molly does not agree that the tactic of physical confrontation with fascists is always the best course to follow she will bow to the judgement of the Russian comrades in their own situation. As usual the following has been slightly edited for English grammar.

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Declaration of St. Petersburg Anti-Fascist Resistance Group

Declaration of St. Petersburg Anti-Fascist Resistance Group on attack on participants of a picket against Kosovo recognition

March, 7 at 16:00 several ultra right groups held a picket in St.Petersburg against Kosovo independence near the US consulate.

Some of the picket participants were attacked by antifascists after the picket. This fairly ordinary event led to a lot of public attention.Nationalists calling themselves patriots and Russian Orthodox believers started another hysteria in the media. In this connection we would like to make the following declaration to express our attitude to the event:

1.When the ultra-right Orthodox clericals come out into the streets (there were activists of RONS, RID, DPNI, Black Hundred and other on 7 March) and raised their flags they should remember that the time has passed when they could freely gather in the city. It is becoming dangerous to call for hatred and dominance of some groups of people over others. It is well known that the groups present at the picket support violence against their political opponents and those whom they consider their enemies. An attack on them can be regarded as self-defense of the most conscientious citizens of St.Petersburg.
2.It is irrelevant at what sort of events Nazi appear – legal or illegal, big scale or local - they spread the ideas of hatred, ethnic confrontation and xenophobia. It is not important whether they are silent on this particular day or they shout their slogans. If nationalists are in the streets we must fight back by any possible ways.
3.We believe that any idea can exist even an absurd one (as in case with ultra-right Orthodox). But it is one thing when people with such ideas gather in their headquarters and church parishes and it is a different thing when they come out into the streets and offend the people with their slogans, flags, handouts and ideas. Such gatherings are a dangerous hotbed of hatred and provoke hate related crime which is often committed by very young people manipulated by party activists who only make propaganda.
4.Ultra-right criticism of the existing Russian police regime seems illogical as at the same time they cooperate with it. In fact they constantly ask their enemies (or friends?) such as the police and the procurator office to defend them. But in fact this is not surprising – the police, the church and nationalists make up one block and are a tool which the regimes in all countries have always been using. The so called patriots use every possibility to present themselves as victims, to demonstrate how they are beaten and torched for just making a political presentation. But where does all this opposition spirit go when they cooperate with the investigation? Such people can only be scorned and despised.
5.We agree with the declaration on Kosovo which the Serbian anarcho-syndicalists made (http://www.ainfos.ca/ainfos07935.html).
6.Neo-Nazis shall have no place in our streets. We remember. We fight.
Anti-fascist Resistance of St. Petersburg

RUSSIA:

NAZIS ATTEMPTED TO BOMB A FESTIVAL IN ST. PETERSBURG:

FROM AVTONOM:

With the disintegration of the Soviet Empire neo-fascist groups have proliferated in the ex-colonies and in Russia itself. The following is a report from the Russian anarchist website, Avtonom, about the most recent attack on anarchist-connected events in Russia by neo-Nazis. It has been slightly edited for clarity.

"On October 13th a bomb of 200 grams trotyle equivalent failed to detonate at the 'Music of the Streets' festival organized in the Roks Club of St. Petersburg. Groups due to perform at the festival included Spitfire (St. petersburg), Blisterhead (Gothenburg, Sweden), Rejected (Lappeenranta, Finland), Turbo Lax (Tolyatti), Mister X (Grodna, Belarus), and Mass Murder (St. Petersburg). During the concert, while Blisterhead was performing, the audience noticed a strange bag smoking in the hall which was passed to the scene. Security quickly moved it to the yard where it was covered with water. The anti-bomb squad found a bomb, 200 grams in trotyle equivalent, covered with 800 grams of bolts and other ripping objects. The concert was halted and people were evicted heavy handedly from the premises. OMON riot police beat some people who were on their way out.

There is little doubt that this bomb was set up by nazis, who have a long history of attempted attacks against Spitfire. Five concert goers were also ambushed by 15-20 nazis armed with iron bars and bottles. One girl was hospitalized after being beaten in the head with an iron bar, but she has already been released from hospital".

Molly Notes: A couple of things stand out in this report. The obvious one is the attitude of the police. Riot squads are not the usual way to evacuate a building. They might be useful if they were held back until the fights actually started between the anarchists and the nazis, but it seems their only purpose was to intimidate the concert goers. The other thing that struck Molly was the phrase that the suspicious package was "passed to the scene". I hope that this is merely a mistranslation. I have this vision of some very "bright" individual who on seeing a suspicious package thinks that the best thing to do is to bring it into a crowded room. Wow.