From BZ
Since the announcement of partial mobilization by Kremlin despot Vladimir Putin (69) on Wednesday, thousands in Russia have been protesting against the Kremlin plan.
Russian beating police officers again took particularly violent action against the demonstrators on Saturday, brutally suppressing the protests.
Many people protesting against Putin’s mobilization were arrested again on Saturday. Here a man is taken away in Moscow Photo: AFP
► On Saturday there were at least 747 arrests in 32 cities in Russia, according to the human rights organization OVD-Info.
► According to eyewitnesses, the security forces used electric shockers.
► Videos are circulating on social networks showing men in combat uniform and helmets beating up demonstrators.
“We’re not cannon fodder!” shouted a young woman as police dragged her away in Moscow, reporters from the AP news agency report.
Putin wants to draft in around 300,000 men to hold the areas still occupied there after the defeat of the Russian army in Ukraine. That had already triggered protests in about 40 cities last Wednesday.
The editor-in-chief of the propaganda channel RT, Margarita Simonyan, railed against the chaotic actions of the authorities on her Telegram channel. “It has been announced that privates can be recruited up to the age of 35. The subpoenas are for 40-year-olds,” Simonyan explained. “They piss people off like they’re doing it on purpose, like they’re doing it out of malice. As if they were sent from Kyiv.”
Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began seven months ago, there has been little criticism from Putin’s friends.
After the announcement of partial mobilization, many Russians fled to Georgia. As the Russian authorities themselves confirmed, there is a “significant” increase in cars coming from Russia at the border with Georgia.
(olb, afp, dpa, ap)