Moscow April 22, 2013

8.3 Annexes to Section 4. Eyewitness accounts, pictures, links to walk-through video

8.3.1 Eyewitness accounts

I had to leave earlier, at about half past five. The column has ultimately stopped by that time. We stood at Maly Kamenny bridge at that moment. I was trying to find a way to the subway but it turned out to be rather difficult. All ways out were blocked off. There was only one narrow walkway on Bolotnaya naberezhnaya to the square where a demonstration was to take place. I walked through it and was really surprised to see all people standing on the bridge where metal detection arches had been installed, and somebody was singing at the stage. However, nobody was allowed to leave the square, which surprised me even more. There were police cordons everywhere. I hardly talked them into letting me go away and climbed over the fencing.

“Spacemen” (riot police) whacked the crowd with batons, several men were pulled away out of the crowd: either carried by their legs and arms or just hauled away by the police. People who were trying or seemed to try to escape were beaten. I watched many people hauled away. One guy was put down to the ground, he didn’t move. It was a tall skinny boy of about 20. Doctors came up to him, and the boy got up in several minutes, wambling. They let him go away, as far as I remember.

A burning object was thrown out of the crowd at some moment, it was doused with a fire extinguisher. I noticed no acts of violence towards policemen. Quite the opposite, policemen used to push people, in some cases people tried to stand up to policemen protecting themselves with own arms or other objects at hand (bags, packs, umbrellas etc.), which actually posed no serious danger to the latter. Until I was arrested, I saw policemen beating the participants, putting them to the ground and wringing hands. They were arresting people in a very rude manner: they put people to the ground, wrung hands, beat with batons, and dragged rudely into paddy wagons.

EWA No. 15

I remember a brass band, music and overall festive spirit at the demonstration, which surprised me pleasantly.

I passed through a metal detection arch with all my things and belongings being checked thoroughly. I had to leave my bottle of mineral water outside the place. But my friend told me that a free pass was made to the left of arches some time later, and people passed through it freely without being checked. My friend got to the demonstration place in such a way, unchecked.

The situation seemed rather normal and ordinary until we reached the bridge. Nothing seemed threatening, and we were with children. If we knew that there would be a “rumble”, we would have left kids at home for sure. We were sure of the peaceful character of the planned demonstration, since extreme actions usually took place at Manezhnaya place. At the same time, the demonstration on Bolotnaya was a concerted action.

We didn’t manage to pass already. As my friend and I reached the embankment, about two minutes later, first conflicts began. OMON riot soldiers were standing at the other side and didn’t let anyone go away for a long time.

I realized at some moment: it’s enough for me! And I decided to leave the place. But there were two OMON chains from the opposite side, all soldiers with poker faces, preventing about hundred and a half of people represented mostly by girls and elderly people from leaving the site. It lasted for about an hour and a half. At last, they made a narrow pass and let these people go away to the subway. I joined them and managed to leave too.

I didn’t make even a slightest attempt to turn back. Obviously, it was impossible. People pushed from behind. Bolshaya Polyanka was blocked off. Someone said that the demonstration site was cordoned off and nobody could leave it. I passed the second metal detection arche by, without going through it. People were hustling there. I went down the stairs to Maly Kamenny bridge embankment and simply went the arch round. Only several people did the same: probably not everyone could imagine that they could do that without going through the metal detector. I reached the embankment. Fortunately, there were not so many people. It was overcrowded in front of arches where OMON cordons were fencing off the stage, as well as to the left and forward, right in front of the stage only. But people still kept arriving. I wanted to come up to the stage and moved forward. Short of Luzhkov bridge I stopped, since all the ways were blocked off by “spacemen”. I had to stop and wait, and nobody could say what we were waiting for. It was impossible to leave the embankment. There were “spacemen” standing in front of the stage and Luzhkov bridge, as well as from the side of the Kremlin, of course. The crowd was still growing in front of the police cordons. Nobody knew what to do further. It was completely impossible to leave. We were just standing. People kept on arriving.

Checks were rather severe: they made me embowel my backpack completely, took all mineral water away, and even forced me to open a pack of hygienic pads.

There was an ordinary check, rather slow. We had to wait for about 15-20 minutes. Policemen checked bags, made people walk through metal detection arches, then checked them additionally with manual metal detectors.

Along the demonstration movement in Yakimanka district a dense chain of OMON soldiers kept moving without intervals along the column (at least to the left side of it); all soldiers were dressed in special police garments and equipped with batons; there was nothing like that earlier, for example during the demonstration in February 2012 on the same route.

I tried to return with many others but in vain. The embankment turned out to be cordoned by a chain of policemen at Luzhkov bridge. Young people managed to brake it from time to time (simply pushing through the chain, without doing any harm to policemen), but the chain closed again and again. The chain was removed for a while, and I got to Maly Kamenny bridge. Then the chain was restored and we got in a trap: it was neither possible to come up to Maly Kamenny bridge because of strikes, nor to Luzhkov bridge or to the park because of an OMON chain. Thus, nobody was able to leave the site for some time at all. The police was not trying to disperse demonstrators but to jam them. The chain at Luzhkov bridge was completely removed only by evening when the police began to force protesters out to Moskvoretsky bridge.

I watched OMON soldiers beating people with batons. People were trying to hide themselves behind the arches from the policemen and OMON soldiers who behaved really violently. It all was going on at the area behind second arches already. I was among those people. I witnessed policemen beating the demonstration participants with their feet and batons.

I saw ‘regime dogs’ forcing demonstrators off Kadashevskaya naberezhnaya, where conflicts took place as well. People were filled with indignation and tried not to move apart as long as it was possible standing up to the regime in a peaceful non-violent act of resistance. Regime dogs chased people, beat them with batons, one guy got his head badly hurt, someone made him a dressing and called for an ambulance.

I saw several OMON soldiers were taken off their helmets. I saw OMON soldiers beating people that were actually guilty of nothing: unarmed ones, girls, totally and indiscriminately. They beat people violently, cruelly, with their feet and rubber batons. They thrashed the crowd as if we were just lifeless mannequin, and not real people. At some moment girls equipped with loud-hailers started to call people to make several steps in the direction of OMON soldiers (probably provokers), but no one made even a step. Very brave guys.

EWA No. 33

People who were standing peacefully and showing no resistance were dragged over the ground right where the asphalt was covered with fecal masses from toppled over chemical toilets. Women were dragged by hair. Policemen caught people from the crowd without any fair reasons who actually showed no signs of aggression.

People were armed with smiles and posters.

I was detained and delivered to the OVD (local police department) Yakimanka. I was simply sitting on the stone. OMON soldiers came up to me, grabbed me by hands and legs and dragged me to a paddy wagon.

EWA No. 35

In spite of a sufficient amount of metal detection arches at the site entrance, the checking procedure was carried out quite wretchedly, though as usually. Bags were checked carelessly. They asked to open bags but looked through their content grudgingly, so it was rather possible to bring to the site whatever one liked.

My mom managed to get through to me over the phone and I squeezed to the right, closer to the square. I found my mom there and we stood with Ilya Ponomarev there, a friend of our family. About 5–10 minutes later OMON guys started to move wedge-like and grab guys from the crowd. I was afraid for my mom and tried to protect her, we went down the slope to the fencing near the river. I saw OMON catching guys and girls without any reasons and dragging them over the ground. I saw a fire flying from OMON side. Neither me, nor my mom saw it flying in their direction. Some guys standing next to me were arrested. We had no ways out and pressed ourselves into the fencing. I covered mom with myself and turned my back to OMON soldiers running to us. When those OMON bastards started to grab people around us, someone whacked me with a baton in my back. I didn’t feel any severe pain since I was worried only about my mom and didn’t feel anything. I began to feel pain quite later when we were standing at Polyanka near the OVD. Then OMON soldiers standing at the top of that slope, right between us and the square, turned on some gas. I had to put on a t-shirt as a mask, with only eyes left uncovered. It was difficult to breathe. Mom used my handkerchief to protect herself from gas. Then OMON cops rushed into the crowd some more times, and every time I covered my mom with myself. At some moment someone from OMON treaded on my foot, rather heavily, and pushed me strongly with an elbow at the level of kidneys. They sneered at us, filmed with camera and pushed us to the stairs leading to the bridge. At that they were moving in a chain and rather fast, so that many people were falling down on the stairs.

EWA No. 36

Some people wanted to get to the demonstration, others – to leave it through Luzhkov bridge, but all ways were cordoned off with police forces leaving no such possibility either for the first, or for the second. People tried to talk to the policemen peacefully, then there were made several attempts to break through the OMON chain by demonstrators. OMON put on gas, it’s for sure. I went up to the river, people managed to break through. Then the bridge was open. I saw only policemen reaction to the breakthrough – they were striking with batons. I left through the bridge.

When OMON began to push people away from Maly Kamenny bridge, some people had to show resistance, even unwillingly, simply to protect themselves and not to get injured. Someone sprayed the pepper gas, though it turned out to do more harm to demonstrators themselves rather than to policemen. When I stopped to call my son, a guy with a blood-stained head ran by me. OMON soldiers used to rash into the crowd from time to time, whacking people with rubber batons and knocking them off their feet. Sometimes action participants lost their temper and used to throw everything they had at hand back into OMON soldiers. But those who started to throw asphalt pieces into the soldiers were stopped by other participants, since such actions led to injuries of other demonstrators mostly. I saw not a single policemen who had really suffered from demonstrators’ actions. It was surprising how calm OMON soldiers were while rushing into a rather dense crowd of demonstrators, slicing it into separate groups, and went out of it without any negative consequences for themselves. When I managed to find my guys, at last, I took them away through Luzhkov bridge as it was still open, and then returned to Bolotnaya. Soon afterwards Luzhkov bridge together with the way to Ordynka were blocked off.

We were walking from subway station Oktyabrskaya with long halts. It was hot and stuffy. Many people were with their families and kids. I remember one elderly man, a veteran of the Great Patriotic War, who was dropping with sweat. Many people had problems with absence of water. The way to Maly Kamenny bridge took us about two or three hours.

Policemen were beating demonstrators and dragged them into paddy wagons, with people backs dragged on the asphalt. Extreme violence. My husband was arrested in Lavrushinski side-street, next to the European Union Representative Office.

Yes, I saw people throwing stones (pieces of asphalt) into policemen, as well as bottles with water. The policemen threw bottles of water back to the crowd. Musclemen in black shirts did it. Someone of them wore face masks. The majority of throwers stood under a tree, at the corner of the embankment and Maly Kamenny bridge descent. Later on, at the height of the conflict when one more blocking ring was broken, one policeman was caught, thrown to the ground and people knocked him with feet several times. There is even a video available where he was crying. I shouted to people to stop it and let him go back. Which I saw most often is how OP-2 group or OMON totaling to 6–10 men grabbed someone from the crowd and dragged from Bolotnaya Square to paddy wagons. Other people who tried to protect the grabbed ones got arrested, too. Some were beaten. I tried to keep one man whom policemen wanted to take out of the square, by his clothes, but I was whacked with a baton at my left elbow. Someone sprayed pepper gas at the square. I even found container on the ground later on.

I was arrested in a rather rude manner, not on Bolotnaya Square, but at the corner of Kadashevskaya naberezhnaya and Lavrushinski side-street, near to Luzhkov bridge. There were a lot of protesting people and police forces on Kadashevskaya naberezhnaya. More and more people used to be arrested all the time. Policemen started screwing someone at the turning to Lavrushinski side-street. I was trying to keep people away from police soldiers by keeping people at their waists. But eventually I was thrown to the ground. Someone kicked my head with a boot. Then one of them ordered me to pass my hand, otherwise he threatened to break it. One of the soldiers was clamping me down with both his hands around my neck and jaw. Another was wringing my hand with a painful hold. Then I was put to the splits right in front of a paddy wagon and someone pressed my shank with his foot. Thus they conducted a search and made me turn by backpack inside out with one free hand, right onto the pavement. Then they brought me to the “PHILI-Davydkovo” police department.

EWA No. 48

As soon as I returned to Maly Kamenny bridge, I stood there with other people. It lasted about 20 minutes, as it seemed to me, after the protest march stopped at Maly Kamenny bridge and some noise occurred. I stretched out my neck and tried to look over people heads. I saw OMON column in helmets crashing into participants’ crowds and whacking all people around with batons. That action repeated two or three times, OMON cut the crowd as a knife as if tried to divide the protesting people, and then retreated for a break. Then everything stopped for a while. I decided to reach Bolotnaya naberezhnaya to listen to the rally speeches that were to start at that time. Having passed through a narrow pass for the second time, I started to make my way to Bolotnaya naberezhnaya in the direction of the stage. There were too many people there. Hardly, I reached WC cabins, a strong noise arose again. I turned round and saw the same OMON column, furiously crashing into the crowd and whacking people with batons rather cruelly. People stepped back with a fear, jam occurred, there were women and even kids in the crowd. OMON soldiers used to crush into participants without breaks this time, beating people. Everything was stirring to action, people were running, falling over and crashing one another. A smoke pellet raised up in the air. Cries and groans were heard from everywhere. Then some strange smudge appeared. I think it was a tear-gas since it began to scratch throat, it was difficult to breathe and eyes began to water. A tragedy began: I saw cruel assault of my own people. Since there was a real threat of a jam, and since people running away from OMON pressed so much that I could hardly move my hand or take breath, I decided to move to OMON immediately and persuade them to stop: there were many women and elderly people in the crowd, and there existed a real threat to people’s lives already.

As soon as I came closer to the site of assault I saw five or six policemen in helmets concentrated over someone and swiping him violently with their batons. It was obvious that there was some person, but neither he, nor even his clothes could be seen because of dense rings of enraged policemen around him. At last he managed to escape. When wedging into the crowd, policemen grabbed separate people, threw them onto the ground and beat them. I could see about three or four such groups in front of me. I came up to one policeman and asked him to stop beating since it could lead to serious jams and injuries. The policeman seemed to understand that their actions could lead to serious tragedy indeed. But suddenly a scream was heard at that moment. Policemen bent down and I saw flying stones and a dark-yellow glass bottle. I shouted as loud as I could to stop it. But in vain – people kept on throwing stones and bottles and others had to evade from them. All of a sudden there flew several stones and a bottle from one and the same place, it looked like a salvo. It happened right at the moment when policemen stopped whacking people. It looked like a provocation. Because it was impossible to pass a glass bottle through metal detectors. As I started to cry to people to stop throwing immediately, I turned out to be with my back to policemen and was grabbed by them for some reason who came up to me from behind. They saw me trying to stop stones throwing, but still they arrested me for some reason and took me to a paddy wagon.

I waited near a paddy wagon under policemen surveillance for about five minutes, new people were constantly arrested and brought to paddy wagons during all this time. There were plenty of paddy wagons: one was departing when I was brought there, and I was waiting near another one. Policemen brought a guy with heavily wringed hands, bowed, he was younger than me, dressed in a T-shirt. We were put into the vehicle in five minutes. There were two sections inside. That man and I were put to the farthest one. There were several people inside already: a very young student, one guy with bleeding elbow, an elderly man, a young girl, and several others whom I don’t remember already. There were 12 people in total in our section, and 13 in another one. It was a big closed “Ural” vehicle, with ventilation switched off. It was extremely stuffy and crowded inside. The way to the OVD Voikovskoye took us more than three hours.

Then OMON soldiers stood in chains and started to force people back. We were pressed to the embankment parapet and I saw five OMON helmets swimming in the water. OMON soldiers didn’t want to push people off, but they were forced into doing it by their bosses.

The mood was about a festive one. I saw young people with kids, handicapped people. There were plenty of visitors, too. People were glad that there were so many of us, nobody expected any inadequate actions from the authorities, since there was not a single reason for them. I was extremely surprised first, and then even indignant over what happened later.

I was standing at a bus stop at that square and saw close OMON chains (at the back side of the square) perfectly well. They were simply standing and waiting for an order. Everything was rather quiet and unclear as for what was going to happen and when. A young man was walking in front of the OMON rank reading aloud a Constitution article: “Citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to assemble peacefully, without weapons, hold rallies, meetings and demonstrations, marches and pickets”. One of OMON soldiers knocked the guy at a shank with his boot with molded soul in response to that. (Then he was dragged to a paddy wagon for reading that). Then OMON groups consisting of 5-9 soldiers started to leave the rank and line up in a “wedge” spreading all over the square. They crushed into front demonstrators’ rows, grabbed someone from thereof and dragged them to paddy wagons located behind ranks of OMON soldiers. Some people walked upright, but others were forced even to run, with their heads close to the ground. Then a whistle came – from soldier to soldier, and they all moved across the square, holding each other with hands and stepping firmly. They cried to us standing at the bus stop: “Go away, go away!” We didn’t object and started to leave ahead of them. But while moving I was knocked at my leg (5 cm above my ankle) which I even didn’t notice within overall rush. A young man was running behind me. I didn’t see him running and “spacemen” chasing him, but he fell down right in front of me, probably he was pushed forward by them. After he fell, three or four “spacemen” started to swipe him with batons, thus I could get a knock at my ankle by accident, since he could have pushed me while falling down (which is slightly possible), or policemen could have whacked me either occasionally or on purpose. Anyway, my leg was bruised and swollen for a whole month afterwards. I can’t even suppose how long it took other people who were beaten by “spacemen” straight-from-the-shoulder and purposely to recover after it. I’m afraid many people got injuries which may affect their health adversely in future.

A middle-aged woman was standing at the square parapet when a chain of OMON soldiers was moving forcing people from the embankment, and she either didn’t manage to leave, or expressed indignation over the fact that they wanted her to leave a place where any person is entitled to stand in the course of a concerted meeting. But in a flush they knocked her off her feet and started to swipe.

EWA No. 53

As I stood between the ranks of demonstrators and OMON soldiers, I could witness several acts of unlawful arrests of peaceful demonstrators. It seemed to me they chose people completely at random. Two of my friends – extremely peaceful and calm people not capable of hurting even a fly – were dragged by policemen to a paddy wagon bent up to the ground twofold, with their shirts pulled off up to their waists.