Moscow April 22, 2013

I saw some dense gas was sprayed from OMON’s side in the course of conflicts at the corner of Kamenny bridge (when cops were slicing the crowd from Bolotnaya). There was a reporter near cops at that moment (shooting from a stepladder) and he put on a respirator.

As soon as first cordons were broken through, OMON lines retransformation started. Paddy wagons moved up closer. OMON soldiers began to arrest all and everyone who were standing in front line. Cordons were restored pretty fast. New breakthrough attempts began and cops started to arrest new people. People were dragged over the ground losing their footwear and headgear. People were checked before being put into paddy wagons, while the cops were hitting them with feet and fists.

A boy was running towards my side from the site of conflicts. Four representatives of the Ministry of Internal Affairs dressed in a special outfit were chasing him. The guy fell down with his belly down, and cops started to beat him with batons. I couldn’t fail to make a notice to them. They referred their aggression to me, but only stroke a rubber stick over me and stopped. Cops stopped beating the guy, grabbed him and dragged away.

I saw a representative of the Ministry of Internal Affairs hit a boy heavily without any fair reason: that guy hadn’t done anything illegal. It all happened close to me (approximately at a distance of 1 meter). He was simply standing, puzzled, while there was no any obvious confrontation: cops and demonstrators were actually mixed together on the Square area close to the park corner. The blow was that strong that the man just simply fell down on the ground. Over some time cops started to slice the crowd and force people away towards Bolshaya Ordynka (people didn’t protest and were walking away in that direction). An assault group jumped out from behind OMON soldiers’ chains and one of cops applied “a rush under one’s feet” method (it is when assaulting person rushes under one’s feet, grasps them and knocks one down by his own shoulder so that the person assaulted falls on his back flatwise and hit his nape). Which was shocking – that method was used AGAINST A WOMAN. Unexpectedly. She fell down and hit her head badly. No comments could be added. And it was the single case when men from the crowd stood up for the woman preventing cops from dragging her away. Cops probably thought that surprise element was lost, and stepped back. By the way, there were ordinary men who protected that woman, and even grey-headed and of senior age.

OMON pulled people out of the crowd one by one, mostly young guys and girls, but sometimes even elderly men. The crowd tried to stand up to the OMON and not to let groups of 5 or 6 soldiers beat any separate demonstrator. Cops were whacking people with their batons, feet and fists, and by two or three men per one victim. Some young men were trying to protest bare-handed and not to let cops push them away from the site where they were standing.

I saw with my own eyes a woman fell down onto the pavement with a heart attack after cops pulled her son – a young teenage boy – out of her hands. She witnessed the cops beating him, then three cops dragged him away. My friend and I ran to a nearest café to bring her medicines and water.

EWA No. 258

A big number of strong young men dressed in black with face masks were walking next to us. They were moving as a whole, in an organized manner, almost together with the column, but there was a feeling that they just were trying to produce such an impression – that they were WITH the crowd. It was clear they were united by some common target. As soon as we reached Maly Kamenny bridge they rushed forward sharply, and I hadn’t seen them since that.

As we reached the crossing with Polyanka, we stopped for some reason. As it turned out, OMON soldiers were cordoning the road at that moment. Then we were allowed to proceed to Maly Kamenny bridge. Someone cried: “Look! They are barricading the road”. Cops’ buses started to block off the access to Yakimanka behind us.

OMON started to line up and run towards demonstrators. I saw no provocations from demonstrators. Thus, OMON was cutting the crowd into groups and pushing them away from the embankment to the bridge. I was shocked to witness a woman with a daughter of about 8 or 9 was escaping from cops protecting the child with herself. And a huge man in a helmet was swiping her in her back with a baton. We shouted: “Such a shame! Such a shame! Fascists!” OMON soldiers were behaving rudely and even violently.

EWA No. 271

Luzhkov bridge turned out to be open at some moment. Then I remember little: it seems to me we still got to Bolotnaya Square through that bridge. Yes, exactly. We saw there was no meeting on, and that someone (I think that was Nemtsov) was being pulled away right from the stage. People were filled with indignation: how it could have happen, since the meeting had been approved. We met several acquaintances and headed towards exits, closer to the “Balchug”. There was a horrible mess there. It seemed exits were being opened and closed at random – according to the cops’ desire, without a concrete plan. I separated from my friends at some moment and found myself blocked off from all sides. All exits had simply been closed. And that’s all. My husband had already got out of a barricaded zone and rushed to help me. He came up directly to a cop and said: open the barricades, there is my wife there and can’t get out of there. The cop opened. I hope I’m telling the truth here, I didn’t expect that so much information could have cleared away from my memory during last months.

We stood on Maly Kamenny bridge, where the strangest things began. Since we didn’t see OMON chains, we couldn’t understand what was going on. It became clear at some moment that cops were preventing people from going to Bolotnaya. People rumored that OMON was there. Someone climbed higher and saw OMON standing too close to the corner leading to the square, which was strange. We were standing there for about 40 minutes. There came an “order” to sit and stay sitting until cops let us go. As if it was proposed by Navalny. At that time people started to shout: “Shame!”, which probably meant that cops started to wring people. I have never dreamed to get into a prison truck. And I came to the meeting not for Navalny. That’s why we decided to leave the bridge as soon as all the mess began, and try to get to Bolotnaya from other bridges. Approximately at that moment some guys with bicycles told us that all ways had been closed, and people on Bolotnaya were enclosed there. My close relative who had managed to get to Bolotnaya confirmed that fact: I phoned him and he said that he couldn’t leave the square. They were trapped.

EWA No. 275

The column wouldn’t still come up, and it was not clear what was going on there. People wanted to get back to the square. I went to that direction as well. But we were not allowed to get through arches. People got indignant and began to require cops to let them go away. There were people with small kids who wanted to leave the square through the bridge. But cops wouldn’t let them go away either. Several people started to throw down the arches, others scanned: “Right! Do it!” At last a pass was opened. We left the “trap” and headed towards Maly Kamenny bridge.

I crossed to the opposite side along Luzhkov bridge, and headed to Maly Kamenny bridge. A chain of OMON soldiers was standing there and pushing people away to Polyanka and Yakimanka. I found myself right in front of the OMON chain. Upon command OMON ran into the crowd of demonstrators, grasped someone and stepped back. People tried to protect themselves, and shouted “Shame on you!” I saw several people, with their faces in blood. I have no idea regarding a principle according to which cops were choosing their victims.

EWA No. 277

Then I saw someone fired a smoke pellet somewhere ahead. It surprised me greatly: how could one bring it here with such a tough check-up at arches? I was pressed away to toilet cabins by that moment near which we were standing, to the right of the embankment along the column movement. I noticed that a man holding a smoke pellet was wearing a face mask (to my mind he was above the medium height). There was a group of about five people next to him, all in masks too and dressed in black. Then I saw OMON soldiers colliding into the crowd by groups of 6. They were doing it in the following way: cadets stepped aside, two columns of OMON soldiers rushed forward while beating all people around (even women and old people). Shouts were heard: “Boys, what are you doing?” Cops grabbed any occasional person and drove him away. Sometimes they carried their victims away while holding them by feet and hands. Their choice of a victim was a real secret for us. For example, I saw cops arresting an elderly woman, hitting her in arm with a baton. This woman was just standing and keeping silent. At some moment I noticed the OMON chain opened and let the group in masks who were firing fires leave in the direction of the “Udarnik”. I said a cop standing by my side about that, but he paid no attention to my words. I saw demonstrators, mostly young people, were pulling the arrested away from cops’ hands, and throwing asphalt stones into cops. But other demonstrators stopped them saying that it was a wrong method. I witnessed a man toppled a toilet cabin down, then another, and again he was stopped by other demonstrators. I also saw people taking helmets and batons away from cops who were beating them, and throwing them into the river.

Cops were lining up, all dressed in protective outfit and equipped with rubber batons, put their hands onto the shoulders of their colleagues standing in front of them, rushed out of arches and ran towards people. At that they were beating all and everyone around, grabbing someone from the crowd who hadn’t managed to escape, and retrieved with their victims in the same manner. We were really frightened. We shouted, but they kept beating demonstrators. All passways, either up or down, were cordoned by the cops. They let no one go away though people begged them about it. From time to time the cops continued to rush into the crowd, beating, grabbing, arresting people on some unclear principle – the people who didn’t fight with cops but were just standing occasionally on their way. Several toilet cabins had already been toppled over to create at least some barricades on OMON’s way to protect themselves from cops’ attacks. There stood two boys with drums near us, so people didn’t panic. I also saw injured and bleeding people, reporters from the “New Newspaper” (wearing blue cloaks) next to them.

I saw several people wearing face masks in the very beginning of the column, which seemed very strange to me. They were following the meeting leaders, while walking in the middle of the column, and didn’t look like a group of young anarchists at all!

My daughter and I were walking from the left side of the column. As we reached Maly Kamenny bridge, we faced cops there and a jam started. Trying to protect my daughter we moved sharp to the right across the column, hardly squeezed to the park, and came up to the stage. We saw Nemtsov was being detained directly on the stage, and then returned to the beginning of the park. We were staying there for some time watching cops beating people and preventing them from going to the park. When we decided to leave, we faced a triple OMON line standing in front of Luzhkov bridge. They opened a passway in about 30 or 40 minutes, and people managed to leave in the direction of Tretyakovskaya subway station.

EWA No. 281

Then people who stayed on Bolotnaya Square were cordoned from all sides. We were in a trap. Then cops started to use the “plunger” method: a dense double line of OMON soldiers were walking across the square pressing people away (all exits were kept closed at that). I saw them whacking an old woman. I wanted to stand up for her but my wife wouldn’t let me go holding me by my arm. One young man tried to protect her. Cops started to swipe him violently and arrested him, if I’m not mistaken.

I was breathing heavily, stepped aside and set on the curb near cops standing in side park cordons. They didn’t wring me for some reason. Probably I looked like an “injured”. While I was sitting there, cops brought some packs, took out some cylinders out of them and began to spray something. We left (my wife and I were allowed to leave) towards Bolotnaya. We were blocked off. There were fights going on in front of the “Udarnik”. Cops were trying to use the “snake” method to cut the crowd into sectors, it all ended in a mess every time. We were watching that from the center of Bolotnaya Square. Then people who were left on Bolotnaya were cordoned from all the sides. We got trapped again. Then cops acted as a “plunger” once again, while walking in lines across the square pressing people away (all exits were kept closed at that). A pass towards Tretyakovskaya subway station was opened over a period of time, and we left.

EWA No. 284

There stood several young men with carton people figures right after arches to the left of Yakimanka (with words on them: “it us our million”, “he is the millionth”). People who came to the meeting were boiling over, they threw small coins at provokers, and then they broke those veneer figures. The police didn’t take any measures to remove the provokers and prevent conflicts. A group of teenagers was crossing the column (their faces were covered with hoods) and were lashing back: “We are not “nashists”!”

We managed to reach a narrow path to Bolotnaya from Kamenny bridge side at approximately 6 p.m. Cops sprayed gas, plenty of it, and people started to cough and suffocate. It smelled pepper. Then OMON began to press the crowd cruelly. We ran to Bolotnaya. Then they sprayed gas every time before a next crowd assault. It all was going on from 6 till 7.45 p.m. (they took my friend, and the time is indicated in an arrest protocol). The meeting itself had been consented till 10 p.m. at that! Cops caught occasional people out of the crowd. I witnessed two big OMON soldiers were dragging a lying boy, right with his face over the pavement. Actually, my friend was arrested just because she had stood up for that boy. There is a corresponding protocol of the OVD Degunino. While escaping from the gas being sprayed, I was carried out by the running crowd to Bolotnaya (at about 6.30 p.m.). I stayed at Bolotnaya for about an hour: I had asthma and couldn’t cope with my cough. I left Bolotnaya through Kamenny bridge again, and then moved further on to Yakimanka at about 7.45 p.m.

EWA No. 286

I was standing at the turning point from the bridge to the embankment during the conflict. And I witnessed the following: while being behind demonstrators’ backs at the beginning of Bolotnaya Square, young boys in black masks (as it seemed to me, it were they who had been squeezing through the crowd in a line on the bridge) began to throw stones into OMON soldiers, and then vanished within the crowd. Ordinary demonstrators, without any masks, were not throwing anything into the police. In reply to that, groups of cops consisting of 5–7 people each would rush in the direction from where stones were thrown, and start swiping all people around with batons violently, no matter who they were: men, women, elderly people. They were doing it furiously, like sadists, as if there were not human beings in front of them, but some lifeless objects. People were not rebelling to that, but were stepping away with fear simply trying to protect themselves from hits with their backs and arms, practically falling down onto the pavement or running down to the embankment parapet where OMON soldiers wouldn’t go for some reason.

We stopped at the park corner not far from cordons. There elderly people were sitting mostly on the parapet and curbs, obviously they were not going to the meeting, but were just waiting for the column. A lot of young people sat down right on the pavement in circles. Everything looked calm and peaceful, no strain at all, people were enthusiastic about the fact that so many participants had come to the meeting, though much fewer had been expected. Since many people were walking not in the principal column, people kept arriving at the square, and by the time when the principal column was to arrive it became clear that there were not enough space for it. Everyone was sure that when it arrived, cops would open the park (furthermore, it was done exactly like that during the previous meeting in December: fencing had been simply dislocated farther). But when the column arrived, everyone stopped. My son ran there and returned, telling me that the rally organizers had sat down onto the ground and had been waiting for the authorities’ representatives for negotiations, since it was obvious that it had no sense to move further. There would be not enough space for all people. My husband who was standing by the stage at that moment phoned me and said that it had been announced from the stage and all people had started to move in our direction. The pass was still kept closed. Tension was increasing. We had no information regarding the situation, everyone was just standing puzzled without any idea what to do further. If the meeting was canceled, why no one declared it? And where should we move to leave the site? It was stuffy. Many elderly people got unwell. We started to beg cops to let them go away through the park, since people still kept arriving from the stage and from Yakimanka. But taking into account cops’ reaction (they didn’t get in contact with demonstrators at all, unlike it had used to be at previous meetings), and we all understood that something was wrong. My son climbed his friend’s shoulders and was commenting what he saw. When people broke through the cordons and part of them managed to escape beyond the OMON chain, there started a rumor that probably cops would open cordons then. But it happened on the contrary: chain was restored, and cops started to grab people beyond the cordon and push them back inside of it. We were in a jam.

At that moment we noticed a fire flying in the OMON chains direction. Everything changed immediately. We realized that cops would react to it very furiously. We thought that they would go for those who had thrown the fire (it was obviously a real provocation in that situation). But we couldn’t even imagine that cops would start beating violently all and everyone without any difference, without any possibility for people to retrieve... It was an assault of unarmed people caught in a trap. Why were they beating innocent people who hadn’t thrown a bottle or a fire into them? At the place where we were standing no one did anything illegal, people were just shouting. But when we noticed an OMON “wedge” running into us we began to escape pulling old women with us since they might have got treaded down in the crowd. Having reached toilets we stopped and saw injured people going out of the crowd. One young guy had blood on his head, and didn’t realize anything, but just kept saying something about his bag. The girl next to him was crying relentlessly and said she had seen the crowd toppled the guy over. He had fallen onto his back and hit his head, without moving. She kept repeating that he was dead. One more “edge” moved towards us and we ran away and hid ourselves behind the toilets. We saw from there OMON soldiers colliding into the crowd and beating people without a break. My husband called me from his place near the stage and said he had heard the cops saying they had been going to arrest all and everyone, violently, and that we needed to go away.

EWA No. 290

OMON rushed into the crowd of demonstrators by groups, completely spontaneously. Cops pushed people down, whacked them with feet and batons, dragged over that pavement, and took away. They caught people without any logic or reason – either those who were carrying flags, or those shouting “Shame!”, or simply occasional persons. Cops were swiping people violently, with the back of the hand, including on heads or backs. One man fell unconscious after a blow at his head, people shouted that the cops had killed him. OMON soldiers quickly circled the body from all the sides and carried him away. I met one my friend who told me that a friend of ours had been beaten (we found out lately that he got his ribs broken). My husband was hit with a baton heavily when he tried to keep some man from being taken away by cops. Demonstrators were trying to stand up for those people who were taken away by the cops. At the same time people wouldn’t give their flags away. People tried to fence themselves off from OMON soldiers with the help of metal barriers. I heard people were taking helmets off cops and throwing them into the river, but I didn’t witness anything like that myself. I saw an OMON soldier without a helmet already. He found himself detached from other cops and looked around with anxiety, as if he was afraid that people would tear him apart into pieces. But demonstrators were simply laughing at him: what had changed? Why he was not as brave as earlier anymore? He ran away to join other cops, no one stopped him. Some people were throwing empty plastic bottles into cops. At some moment stones were thrown into the crowd and it was horrible, since we didn’t have any helmets on unlike cops. People started to shout and demand to stop it. Some tear-gas was sprayed later, I don’t know by whom. Demonstrators started to cough and suffocate. Then I recalled in my memory those people in masks that I had seen earlier.

There was a fight to the left of me (I was facing the OMON). Cops were beating people with batons, and people were trying to protect themselves by covering heads with bare hands. All people, of all ages, men and women, were unarmed. I was shocked to hear from one of cops: “Hey, look, there is a nigger ahead!” And about seven soldiers rushed towards an afro-american person knocking him and everyone on their way down. One more situation took place at the same time. I was a witness when an OMON soldier was whacking a pregnant woman. It all happened at about 8.20 p.m. on May 6. It all happened near Lavrushinski side-street, not on the square itself. Her boyfriend reprimanded cops for wringing a middle-aged woman standing peacefully next to them. About six cops attacked that guy violently with batons. His pregnant girlfriend started to intercede for him. She was thrown onto the ground by a cop who was three times as big as she was and began to whack her with his baton. She cried: “I’m pregnant!” but it didn’t help. We hardly managed to take her away of that beast. To ask cops to call for an ambulance had no sense at all. We called for it ourselves. Several women witnessing that situation were going to provide evidence. Which shocked us also was the OMON’s blunt persistency in ignoring our request about the ambulance. Only third group we addressed to reacted to our request and freed a pass for an ambulance. An operator of the “03” service operations control center was trying to find out for some time whether the hurt pregnant woman was a participant of the Bolotnaya actions. Elena was taken to hospital by the ambulance which arrived at the site, with threatened miscarriage. I phoned to the radio “Echo of Moscow” about this fact. I was accompanying Elena to state clinical hospital No. 13. Her boyfriend was taken to the Butyrskoye OVD. Later he was transported to Botkinskaya hospital with a craniocerebral trauma.

EWA No. 297

There was no passway to the square open; at least there was nothing of that type available for us, since the column faced OMON cordons along the whole Yakimanka length. We had nowhere to go further. People kept arriving from behind creating horrible jam, since they still didn’t know what was going on. It became stuffy and jammy, and even scary starting from some moment. We heard the word “Khodynka” travelling within the crowd. A man standing next to me felt unwell. We started to ask cops to let him go but they kept standing with completely bold faces. Demonstrators managed to make a corridor themselves for his wife to take him away. My husband B. Kagarlytsky together with other demonstrators began to beg soldiers to widen cordons a bit, at least several steps back to give people the possibility to breathe normally. Somewhere to the right (where Udaltsov and Navalny were) there came an offer to sit down onto the ground to show cops that we had no aggression and we had come to carry out a peaceful meeting. Some demonstrators began to sit down, though others asked them to stop doing that. On the one hand, there was physically not enough space for doing that, and on the other hand, it was dangerous for the sitting people themselves in case of any jam from other standing demonstrators or the police. Standing people might fall down onto the sitting ones and hurt. At last, sitting people got up. It all lasted for about one hour.

A group of young people wearing clownish caps drew attention to them immediately. They were obviously guests of Moscow. They behaved savagely, were provoking demonstrators and shouted provoking slogans. Eventually they paid for it: they began to fight in reply to other peoples attempts to calm them down, and they had to retrieve due to demonstrators’ numerical superiority.

When I was passing through, a group of young people arrived, first-year students according to their appearance, not known to me. They all were wearing black face masks (balaclavas), black t-shirts and black jeans. A cop who was checking me at the arch told other cops to let them pass without any check. It surprised me. I was moving at the end of a column with a bicycle.

People were passing to the meeting site through 12 metal detection arches installed across Bolshaya Yakimanka street. Check was being executed more thoroughly than usually, therefore a jam occurred by arches. People were shouting: “Pass through!” and “It’s a shame!” Two people were detached for an attempt to carry a tent to the square. The procession itself on Bolshaya Yakimanka began much later that it had been planned because of long checking procedure at arches.

I was arrested together with others, in spite of the fact that I had been telling cops loudly that I was a public observer. Besides, I had a large corresponding badge of a public observer on. Cops arresting me refused to introduce themselves and explain the reasons for my arrest. I had my right hand hurt at the result of a tough painful hold. I was released due to the help of other public observers.

EWA No. 307

As we arrived at Bolotnaya Square we had to wait rather long for the rest of the column to come there. We couldn’t leave the square since cops wouldn’t let us go away. When it was announced from the stage that people were not allowed to go to Bolotnaya, we headed towards Maly Kamenny bridge, but we were not allowed to go there either. We asked to let us go to the park at least, but cops started drawing cordons thus provoking people to mass disorders.

Several OMON soldiers rushed after a young guy (of about 18 years old) on Kadashevskaya naberezhnaya. They caught him, laid him onto the pavement and began whacking with rubber batons. Several people tried to stop cops. The guy managed to escape, but later on he stopped, sat down and embraced his head with hands. A man came up to him (probably his father), and asked the boy to get up and leave, but the guy kept sitting and moaning. Blood started to run in torrents from his head.

I left the embankment with the last group of people chased by the OMON. At some moment I realized that cops began to cut the crowd into groups and force them away from the square. I tried to leave the square but in vain: OMON chains were standing from both sides of the embankment. Suddenly chains started to approach each other pressing the people in-between. It became difficult to breathe, horrible jam occurred. Then cops started to take people out of that jammed crowd and drive them to prison trucks. But it didn’t last for long. After they arrested about 20 people, one of chains got opened allowing for a pass to the bridge. I moved there, then reached the metro through Yakimanka, and went home.

There was a moment when people were caught between Bolshoy Kamenny bridge and the next bridge by OMON cordons for about 15–20 minutes. People were allowed to leave the square after that through the Maly bridge to the other river bank only.

EWA No. 320

Before the march started (even before metal detection arches, as far as I remember) I noticed a group of people holding veneer people figures in their hands with written words on them “Veneer militant No. 999996” and so on up to “Veneer militant No. 1000000”. As far as I understood those people had an aim to provoke some verbal or physical conflicts, and that they were claiming that other people had come to the meeting just for money. Someone offered to throw small coins at those provokers in response, which many people did. No fight occurred, though someone took those veneer figures away from them and trampled them underfoot. I noticed nothing strange or worthy of suspect in the course of the whole procession up to the “Udarnik” but for those people with veneer figures.

I noticed no violence from demonstrators’ side, but which I did at the same time from the OMON’ side at Maly Kamenny bridge: when an OMON line was pressing demonstrators, an OMON officer slapped а man in his face without any reason who was just passing by between the OMON line and the parapet. One more cop from cordons hit a guy in his shank, who was simply walking in the procession, which all happened at the same place in the same situation too. An OMON soldier bent twofold while standing in a cordon in response to my request to take a photo of him.

I witnessed arrests on Bolotnaya Square, as well as on Kadashevskaya naberezhnaya. The scenery played through multiple times was the same: several dozens of cops rushed into the crowd, striking (and even beating demonstrators!) with their batons (everyone who trapped into their “impact zone”). Cops knocked people off their feet, putting them onto the ground, whacked them violently while their victims were helplessly lying (by one, two, or even a group of about 7 cops), and dragged or carried their victims away.

After a breakthrough which happened near the “Udarnik” cinema, it looked like something had switched on among the police lines. They were not simply guarding the perimeter, but suddenly started to use batons and beat all demonstrators around. And it looked like all people got embarrassed since no violent act with fights had been registered before that. As soon as the first shock was over (about 5 minutes, no longer) people started to throw empty plastic bottles into cops. Cops used their batons in response and began to arrest people more actively. Then there flew stones, full bottles with water and flag poles in cops’ direction. There came reinforcement to the police (one more), probably it was OMON. And then the police started to use the method of crowd “attacks”: part of the cops kept guarding the perimeter, and a group of well-equipped cops (all wearing body armor and helmets) began to rush into demonstrators beating all people on their way. They were followed by other cops, without special police outfit, who were arresting people who hadn’t managed to escape. But the first such “attack” failed, and demonstrators pushed the cops away using steel barriers. The police replied with a storm of blows with their batons, hit the barriers and people who were carrying them. Step by step, the cops forced people away and started a second attempt of “attack”. That is when I was detained by the OMON and cops took me to a paddy wagon. I can’t say anything offensive of the cops from the OVD Basmanny who were putting me into the prison truck. Only they didn’t introduce themselves and didn’t explain reasons for my arrest. I witnessed with my own eyes one young guy who was beaten by cops No. 205 and 206 near a paddy wagon. Further people were being arrested by OMON soldiers, too. There were three people inside of a vehicle, all with injuries. Then there was the OVD Basmanny and “the trial”.

People who were standing on Bolotnaya Square were blocked off from all sides. From the stage side the Square was “cleared” from people by cops, and OMON didn’t allow going away in the direction of the “Balchug”. There were crowd control metal barriers from Maly Kamenny bridge side. Thus people who had arrived at the meeting got in a trap. There was no violence towards cops, but violent retention of peaceful people without a possibility for them to leave. People got indignant and started to throw empty plastic bottles and then even a smoke pellets into OMON lines. OMON soldiers started beating people with batons in reply, while pressing the crowd back. Some people detained by cops were whacked violently. Demonstrators started to throw stones into cops. However, there were not many people throwing stones. I even reprimanded one of them for that. But it was easy to comprehend: cops were swiping other demonstrators, and people were just protecting themselves instead of keeping inactive. OMON lines retrieved for a while after each assault, thus providing a possibility for people to disperse a bit over the embankment, but then rushed to the crowd once again to detain new demonstrators, while beating everyone cruelly. There were even women and senior people among the apprehended. Other demonstrators made attempts to save other people from cops by holding the detained by their sleeves and other parts of clothes. A number of people were still pulled out of cops’ hands. At that people were tearing helmets away from cops’ heads. It all lasted for about three hours.

At about 7 p.m. the police started to clutch people from both sides: there was an OMON line approaching from Gorbaty Bridge, and another OMON chain arrived from Maly Kamenny bridge side which was swiping people on their way concurrently with walking. All demonstrators were pressed into one crowd not more than about 10 meters wide. A horrible jam occured there and people started to cry: “Let us go out!” It lasted for about 10 minutes. When the crowd was pressed to a maximum, OMON lines stopped and were taking no measures within 5 minutes. Then they opened a narrow path about one person wide, and commenced to pass people through it in the direction of Maly Kamenny bridge at last. The bridge was free from demonstrators by that time.

I missed the beginning of conflicts. I think I missed some first 5 or 10 minutes all in all. When I arrived at the site I saw cops pulling a young unconscious man over the pavement, OMON soldiers were beating the rally participants with batons, including girls trying to defend their boyfriends from violent cops’ actions.

When I was brought to a police bus, a young man was dragged by the police ahead of me. The cops hit his head against the bus. He was about 19, he came from Murmansk. I remembered his surname for a long time. But now I have forgotten, but I do remember his face very well.

We encountered several people with injuries and torn clothes closer to the embankment exit in the direction of the “Udarnik” cinema. There grew a “wall” of demonstrators right before my eyes. It was facing a “spacemen” line. I walked aside towards embankment fencing. A short period of time later OMON soldiers began to collide into the crowd slicing it into isolated zones and catching people rather indiscriminately and without fair reasons at all, as it seemed to me. I took a picture when two OMON soldiers were beating a young boy who was standing in one of the lines: one cop stroke his baton over the boy’s head while the other was going to hit the boy in the face with his boot from downside. My camera shoot right a second before two “blows met”: the boys head got right in-between of them. I have this shot available. Then I started to take as many shots as possible and didn’t want to leave: it was too disgusting simply to go away. I saw toilets being toppled over, and people barricaded the embankment with their help later.

Cops “cleared” Luzhkov bridge some time later, and we found ourselves on Bolotnaya naberezhnaya cordoned by OMON (a part of the embankment closer to the “Udarnik” cinema). I asked one of the cops standing in a cordon and preventing us from leaving from the side of Bolotnaya Square: “Why can’t we go away from here?” There came a reply: “To prevent a bunch”. It was absolutely unclear what bunch was actually meant. This moment was recorded by means of a Dictaphone, and probably it was saved somewhere.

I saw a man of about 50–60 years old whom the cops had let go themselves first, but arrested him later on in a rather rude manner without any explanations and without being introduced. They actually dragged him to a prison truck after that.

There were stones flying from demonstrators’ side toward OMON lines. Every two-three minutes groups of soldiers ran out from behind OMON lines, headed to the crowd, and grabbed some people out of there. Without any sense or reasons. They picked just anyone who couldn’t manage to escape the cops attack. The cops threw people down to the ground and/or swiped with batons very often. Demonstrators who were standing closed to the people being caught by the cops tried to pull the detained away out of the cops’ hold. I saw plenty of people with crushed faces, and even more of them were in torn clothes.

All events that took place on Bolotnaya Square were completely unexpected and looked horrific. The mess that started later led to still greater indignation. But OMON soldiers were speaking about those attacks and conflicts (while we were going in a prison truck with them) as if it were a really great delight to them, using such words as “drive”, for example. There was a man with brain commotion in the vehicle. We demanded cops to call for an ambulance. But they just rudely refused to do that. We spent about 2 hours in the prison truck, during which that man kept vomiting. The protocols in the OVD Dorogomilovo where we were delivered to, had all been printed beforehand. They had been drawn up by other police officers, not those cops who detained and brought us to the police department, and were completely false therefore. One policeman started to shout at me and even tried to threaten me.

EWA No. 369

I saw a family with a 13-year-old child being arrested, which seemed to me completely impossible to comprehend. But it was clear that OMON soldiers were doing it deliberately, perhaps, those were some well-known family. At the same time, these people didn’t do anything illegal towards the police representatives, but were just pronouncing some slogans aloud.

I was a witness, and remembered a young, stout man of middle height, with dark-brown long curly hair dressed in a green t-shirt who was grabbed by the cops and was being pulled towards prison trucks, but his friends were holding him too, thus he managed to escape the arrest. He was all in blood, his clothes had been torn out by the cops. It was right in front of the bridge on its right slope.

I saw violent acts executed by OMON but I didn’t remember any faces. I saw myself how the cops took one guy out of the crowd, knocked him down and one OMON soldier hit the man’s head with his boot. Then OMON soldiers dragged him (the man was still in horizontal position) away, leaving a blood trace on the ground. I took a photo of that blood line. I also felt some tear-gas was used. But I didn’t know who had sprayed it, I hadn’t seen that.

The protest march participants simply halted. No one understood what was going on for about 30 minutes. There was a way back yet, but people arrived at the meeting, and didn’t want to leave. Only some women, kids, and elderly people decided to leave when a hustle started. No decisions could be made because of the absence of any information about the situation. There were some contradictory considerations: “they let no one in, they allowed only a limited number of people to go to the square, no one is allowed to enter the square any longer” (by the way, such suppositions had some reasonable grounds, and people kept spreading that rumor from one to another, and it didn’t mean that this information was developed by provokers). Those were the most repeated phrases within the crowd. I decided for myself, that the authorities must let people go to the meeting by setting barriers apart or somehow like that (Bolotnaya held more than 50 thousand people in winter – and in summer it could hold even more). Thus cordons that were standing on demonstrators’ way violated rights of citizens to attend a meeting, including mine. We were just fighting for our rights by forcing the cops away. Neither police, nor meeting organizers provided any explanations to people regarding the situation. If they at least said over loud speakers something like “calm down, we shall let you inside, just wait a little, there are barriers standing, we shall open them soon”. But they shouted only “Everyone stay put” or something like that.

I saw stones flying from demonstrators in OMON’s direction. In 50% of all cases the cops were acting with extreme cruelty while arresting people. Their principal tactics was that two cops were grapping a person, pulling him towards them, and two more cops were beating their neighbors with batons for them not to impede arrests. Meanwhile, the cops were driving blows straight-from-the-shoulder, and made no difference as for whom they were beating.

EWA No. 387

A group of “spacemen” was walking together with the column (to the left of it, along Yakimanka). They were moving as if they were not protecting a column of peaceful demonstrators but were preparing a campaign for terrorists seizure. They ran beyond the cordon from Yakimanka along the left side of Maly Kamenny bridge while pushing people aside on their way. They were rather aggressive despite of the fact that there were plenty of old people or people with kids. First cordon line consisted of middle-height boys from internal troops without any protective outfit. And fully-equipped “spacemen” were standing behind of them. We had a feeling that those boys were put forward deliberately; just to provoke any bodily injuries for them, which could have been caused even at the result of a hustle. Cops didn’t let people go beyond the cordon, to the left of the bridge. It was stuffy, a horrible jam occurred. I witnessed people attempts to ask cops in cordons and beyond them to let them leave, especially people with children and old people who felt unwell. But the cops ignored all requests completely. Officers didn’t even turn back.

I reached the stage. There were some spokesmen on it. Over some time I learnt (over a radio set if I’m not mistaken) that the procession was impeded by the cops and that Udaltsov called people to sit down on the ground as a symbol of protest against cops’ actions. Someone was calling people who had come to the square to help procession participants. I don’t remember whether I tried to leave the Square. Then an OMON chain started to force people away in the direction opposite to Maly Kamenny bridge. My friend and I were afraid to get knocked down by the police and pressed ourselves closer to metal barriers near park parapet of Bolotnaya Square. Soldiers were standing beyond them. OMON line still began to press us and my friend fell onto the parapet and hurt herself badly. Then cops pushed us beyond the barriers. After the cops “cleared” the square from people we went out of barriers. We saw a prison truck standing on the square with the detained participants of the rally. One of them (a friend of mine) was complaining loudly that he had been beaten by cops severely.

We heard shouts. I came up to the corner of Maly Kamenny bridge and the channel embankment, there was a better view of the embankment. I didn’t go down to the jammed crowd since I had a flag and a stand (it is seen in my message where I was standing), and it was difficult to move with them. That’s why I decided to stay at a distance not to be involved into that hustle. At the same time, I was speaking to my colleague and discussing the situation. I saw demonstrators throwing white plastic flag poles and empty bottles into OMON soldiers. And OMON was throwing them back pressing the crowd at the same time. They grabbed separate people from the crowd and took or even carried them away holding by legs and arms to prison trucks. One more OMON chain blocked the way out from the embankment (standing in two or three lines at that) from Bolshoy Kamenny bridge up to Maly Kamenny bridge, and let no one go away. I was inside of that cordon too (separated from the bridge). Several people next to me decided it was time to leave and asked OMON soldiers to let us go outside, but cops started to press us back to the embankment.

The cops were detaining all people around without any reasons during that time. I though the cops were arresting people who were shouting any slogans aloud, but suddenly I saw OMON soldiers rushed after a guy who was holding a stick with a plush snake and Winnie-the-Pooh on the top of that stick. I realized that cops were chasing and arresting those who had any symbolic objects in hands. Hardly had I understood that, I was suddenly grabbed from behind under by elbows by the cops, without any words or explanations. My colleagues were standing near me completely puzzled. Of course, I kept asking why they took me, who they were and where we were going. I got no reply. The cops just kept swiping me with their feet and batons and pronouncing foul words at the same time. That was really strange, and new to me. I had been detained several times during previous meetings earlier, but I had been never beaten or insulted. It all had been usually done in silence and without any violence. But now they didn’t hide their aggression and hatred: I had scratches on my elbows and legs afterwards.

There was a guy with me in a prison truck (an anarchist I think). He was lying on the floor and moaning, and kept saying that OMON soldiers had broken his ribs. We asked cops to call for a doctor because he needed to go to a hospital, and we tried to immobilize his chest with some cloth. A doctor came up, looked into the prison truck from outside and said to the cops to take that guy to a police department. Then the cops brought some more boys and girls, pushing them rudely into the vehicle. They were dragging and throwing people in a very rude manner, driving blows, tearing clothes. There was a girl from St. Petersbug among other detainees, she held a flag, like me (by the way, our flags were taken away by the cops and broken, and we couldn’t even find them later).

A troop of cops arrived over some time (not OMON soldiers, they all were dressed in standard grey uniform) and lined up across Bolotnaya naberezhnaya, while cutting the way to Maly Kamenny bridge off. Thus we found ourselves cordoned completely by cops from all sides, like in a trap, without any ways out.

There stood a police patrol behind us beyond the cordon. We asked one of them how we could get to the metro, he answered that he didn’t know since he had been brought here from St. Petersburg for some reason.

When shouts grew louder and the crowd moved a little back, my husband helped me and my friend to climb the granite parapet. It was seen from there how OMON soldiers were penetrating the crowd of demonstrators, beating all and everyone, to the right and to the left, with feet and batons. They were swiping peaceful people representing no threat to the cops. Several people were detained and taken away beyond the cordon, probably to paddy wagons. People cried: “It’s a shame!” and were escaping enraged OMON soldiers.

Suddenly I saw officers started to talk lively over their wireless radio sets, and I said that it was time to leave the site. There was a helicopter flying at some distance from the square. In several minutes demonstrators started to arrive from the bridge, and it was fascinating to watch: there was a huge flowing stream of people. The helicopter headed towards the corner in Yakimanka, and I understood everything. I addressed to the guys and said, it was time, we needed to go back. Masha asked me why, and I replied that there was going to happen something, and I pointed at police officers who were moving hastily beyond the barriers, and talking over wireless radios. I also drew her attention to the helicopter flying not far from the bridge. Most people didn’t grab the idea that it all was strange, but some concrete actions were being planned by the police, it was obvious. Masha believed me... The bridge was overcrowded and it wasn’t seen any longer whether a stream of people was moving or not... Some unknown young man jumped at the stage at that moment and told rather clearly and distinctly how they had arrived in Moscow, and that the procession couldn’t enter Bolotnaya Square, and that there were people sitting on the pavement... We started to squeeze back until a jam occurred, and almost managed to reach metal detection arches, but cops wouldn’t allow us to leave. People standing on the square began to press them and the cops had to retrieve. I remember several arches fell down and soon we found ourselves at a very narrow place, not far from the turn to the bridge itself.

I was detained on the square, near the “Udarnik” cinema at approximately 5.45 p.m. I stood at a distance from other people, neither shouted any slogans, nor had placards in my hands. Two cops ran up to me from behind, one of them said: “Let’s catch this one!” They grabbed my arms, wringed them and dragged me to a prison truck. I asked them to introduce themselves, show their ID documents and explain the reason of my arrest, but they kept silent. There were no badges of rank on their outfit. I was driven to a prison truck (KAMAZ) and transferred to 2-nd OPP representatives who pushed me into the vehicle. There were about 20 arrested people already. The cops brought more detained persons there after me, then we were carried to OVD “Severnoye Izmailovo”. Igor Borisovich Chubais was with us in that prison truck.

I went to the embankment. “Spacemen” were detaining all people around there, beat them and dragged to prison trucks. The cops grabbed an elderly woman, and young people stood up for her. They managed to save her from the cops, but the cops started to beat them. Other demonstrators standing there peacefully before it, started to protect those young men from “spacemen”. I retrieved to a metal fencing. I phoned my friends. They came to rescue me, but all entries and escapes were blocked off. There stood a young man by my side, he had some problems with his eyes. It was because of the tear-gas. I gave him my water to bathe his eyes. But it was not sufficient for him. I saw “spacemen” grabbing different people from the crowd: women, girls, elderly people, whacked them and drove away to prison trucks. And men-demonstrators were trying to rescue the detained and pull that away out from cops’ hands. I met my acquaintances with kids, the woman was in hysterics. Her husband was helping other people to escape “spacemen”, and she couldn’t leave with her kid.

I didn’t see any violence from demonstrators applied to cops. I personally was knocked down onto the pavement by a group of “spacemen” running from opened gates on Bolotanaya place. Four of them caught me with their hands and carried away beyond the fencing in reply to my indignation. I got scared and started to shout, and one of the cops began to swipe me furiously, and eventually he or some other cop hit me in my back right into kidneys. Actually I was taken to hospital right from the court building because of that: thanks to Nadir and Elizaveta Prikhodina, a barrister who was assisting us.

I left Bolotnaya Square in a paddy wagon together with Nadir, Denis, Zhenya and Valera.

We were detained and brought to the OVD Krasnoselskoye, where we were kept without food and water for two days, in a stinky jail for pre-charged detention. The conditions there were torturous, there was little space on a bench, people couldn’t sleep properly thereon as two people had to sit. We should thank good people who passed mineral water and some food to us. By the way, we were delivered to the court after a day in custody. We were sitting there in a tight GAZelle, five people in a row, close to each other, or even on laps of each other sometimes, under the hot sun, and entered the court building only late at night. But when we saw how the documents were prepared by that judge Sibirev who was wet behind the ears – they all were made identical, almost carbon copies – we all refused from that “deal” and four of us were returned to the OVD, and the fifth detained accepted the “deal” and was charged with the “attack against a police representative” though he was just protecting his mother.

All events that were happening on the meeting site represent a complete iniquity and self-will of the authorities. I had been receiving formal replies from different organizations for some period of time after that, saying that they didn’t know who had been detaining me and what police department I had been delivered. And when I eventually wrote a written enquiry to a chief medical officer of the hospital in which I had been treated, he sent a reply that some people had come to him from the Investigation Committee and took away my clinical record from the archive. They executed it with a most stupid excuse by the way. But one cannot expect anything different from them: they can either put you in a jail, or kill, or fabricate something easily.

EWA No. 401

The police weakened their chains at some moment and I was pushed by the crowd beyond the cordon, where I was detained immediately. I remember someone shouting that there were provokers among us in the crowd who were pushing people towards the cops. I’m writing this to admit that when we arrived at a police department, some detainees had gone somewhere. I.e. they were brought to a police department with us, but they were neither questioned, not protocolled, and were released immediately upon arrival there. I know at least one such man: he was sitting in front of me during our trip to the police department and was shooting us on video with his cellular. We didn’t pay any attention to it at that moment, since we didn’t realize the scale of the provocation planned by the existing regime.

I was delivered in a paddy wagon to the OVD Taganskoye where I spent less than a day and a half. I was released only the next day late at night.

EWA No. 408

But for beating, there was one more egregious example, to my mind: we brought an injured woman to OMON lines and asked them to call for an ambulance, or deliver to hospital (thought their vehicles were standing not far from that place at all), but cops refused first, but then did it only after some pressure from our side.

Several people got detained. I tried to persuade OMON soldiers not to beat people without any reasons, because they were swiping apprehended people with batons while those were lying on the ground, knocked down by cops previously. I advanced an argument that all their attempts would be recorded on video cameras and the next day these cops would be real “Internet heroes”. I was surprised but it worked.

One more important point: after conflicts had begun, it became impossible to leave the meeting site. There was a narrow pass at Maly Kamenny bridge, but no one knew about it and we had to take people there.

I witnessed no acts of violence from demonstrators’ side towards police representatives, but on the contrary, OMON soldiers used to attack people from time to time, beating them with batons, colliding into the crowd, assaulting separate persons by groups of three or four cops, pulled by hair (including women), and took people away. Besides they attacked and whacked even those people who were simply trying to leave Bolotnaya.

By the time when OMON forced people away with the help of their batons from Luzhkov bridge up to Kadashevskaya naberezhnaya, I decided to leave the meeting. But several lines of OMON soldiers started to move towards us and blocked all exits from Bolotnaya naberezhnaya to all meeting participants. None could leave that cordoned “square zone” for about half an hour. Then OMON let people leave Bolotnaya naberezhnaya through a newly-opened pass and move in Bolotnaya Square direction and farther to Bolotnaya and Bolhaya Ordynka streets.

Demonstrators were squeezed away from Luzhkov bridge to Kadashevskaya naberezhnaya towards Lavrushinsky side-street, as well as from Maly Kamenny bridge. OMON lines were penetrating into the crowd on Bolotnaya naberezhnaya and dividing it into sectors. I was in a group of people divided from organizers of a tent camp, whom the cops were making short work of at that moment, while we were pressed against the parapet of the embankment. We started to shout loudly in some time: “Let us go!” The pressure decreased, and we were driven to the opposite side of the park fencing. Cops started to release people gradually, but no one hasted to leave. People were leaving slowly, being forced by OMON soldiers at that. People who were being forced by cops to Lavrushinsky side-street kept resisting cops’ actions as long as they could.

I went through the second line of metal detection arches and was moving back to Maly Kamenny bridge. I faced no obstacles on my way back, an organizer’s badge helped, but it was still not easy to squeeze through a dense crowd. I knew for sure from my volunteers that police cordoned any access for people to any side of Bolotnaya naberezhnaya without any consent from meeting organizers.

Unfortunately I saw no other arrests but for those of Navalny, Nemtsov and Udaltsov. All three of them were detained by the police near the stage at the moment when they were going to make a speech in front of the people gathered for the meeting. Only Nemtsov had managed to say several words in a loud speaker before he was pulled down by policemen from an operator platform where he had managed to climb since the cops had already blocked the stage by that time. Udaltsov and Navalny were arrested very violently, they suffered from pain and humiliation. The police treated Nemtsov in almost the same way.

Thus I witnessed plenty of violent acts executed by cops towards peaceful citizens. I myself was beaten and robbed by cops acting in a line. I was hit severely many times into my face and head while threatening with a baton, tore off backpack with my things, documents and money inside it, and took it away while moving back in the direction of police cordons. I saw people trying to stop the enraged cops, not to hit people with batons. A tent that had been put on Bolotnaya Square, where I stood, was deliberately destroyed by the groups of equipped to teeth cops poking about. I saw many times how the cops were taking flags from demonstrators away, breaking flag poles and tearing the cloth. I witnessed with my own eyes how many of my friends were swiped by the cops completely without any reason.

The police dragged some demonstrators along the pavement with their bodies even naked; the police beat them with their boots and hands. People were struggling and didn’t allow cops hit them without any reasons, protected their friends and relatives preventing them from being arrested by the cops.

They started to detain people a bit earlier. It was conducted in the following manner. About 8-10 OMON soldiers ran away from behind the OMON cordon that was blocking the way to the park from Bolotnaya Square. Those running soldiers while holding each other with a hand by a shoulder of their colleague ahead, were catching any suspicious (in their opinion) person and were taking him back beyond the OMON cordon. Most of us didn’t understand what was going on. When a person was trying to find out what was going on, the cops applied force and used batons. We all felt as if in a madhouse. Which shocked me most: the cops were arresting completely occasional people, and were doing it rather rudely at the same time. Of course, no one wished to be dragged to a paddy wagon face down along the pavement, and moreover – without any fair reason. Time of the consented meeting and procession wasn’t over yet. And people did nothing illegal.

The arrests were going on at Kadashevskaya naberezhnaya, too. The cops were detaining all people there indiscriminately, I was among the detained as well.

EWA No. 450 (E. Krasnova)

As soon as we saw some free space ahead of us, we hurried to cross to a site in the very center where a white minibus was standing, because serious panic had begun around. OMON were grabbing, beating and dragging people somewhere. The next OMON line rushed into us. Since we were standing still, as if even hid behind the minibus, no cops attacked us in the beginning, but then a cop ran up and ordered us to get back behind the cordons. I replied that there was a horrible jam and we wanted to leave the Square through a safe passway, but he wouldn’t listen to me. A second cop ran up and insisted on our returning to the crowd. A third one was hitting us slightly already. There was no sense to speak to him, he was driving blows with his baton to all people around. He looked really mad, and we had a feeling that he was enraged so much that couldn’t behave adequately. We were pushed back into the crowd. But there was an awful jam and we couldn’t squeeze ourselves father than the first line. Then OMON soldiers received a command and drew up in two lines one after another. Soldiers from the first line turned back to us, hit people with their boots. They didn’t care at all whom they were beating. One man felt unwell, someone was about to fall down, someone behind me started to look for medicines, but in spite of all that the cops kept pressing and beating us further.

My husband and I came to a concerted action (as we believed) and thought that it would be held in an ordinary way, as it had been on Bolotnaya and Sakharov avenue earlier. I was in a jacket, and cops grabbed me by it and began to pull away. My husband was holding me from the other side (he was a bit at a distance from me in the crowd) and was shouting: “I won’t let you go alone!” The cop who was pulling me away looked at my husband and said something like “I don’t care, please, join her”, and dragged me further. My husband went to a prison truck with me himself. There were about 10 people in the vehicle already. While the vehicle was being filled in with detainees we were watching second OMON line took out their batons and started to beat people while first line was pressing people. Many people were dragged, in blood, some were limping, some were holding their hurt arms, and some were walking with their eyes swollen. People were pulled away beyond the cordons one by one, brought down off their feet onto the pavement, and beaten by several cops at a time. I caught myself thinking that it was even better to sit inside of a paddy wagon than to be there among those poor demonstrators.

EWA No. 460

We spent some time at a cafe in Lavrushinsky side-street. When we were leaving at about 6-7 p.m., we paid our attention that OMON chains were forcing demonstrators away from the meeting site while moving from the channel through Lavrushinsky side-street passing by the “Tretyakovka”. A police officer without any badge or rank was giving orders whom to detain. Then three or four OMON soldiers ran out of the line, grasped people and pulled them away to the prison buses that were moving behind their chain.

The police were checking people rather long and thoroughly.

I had been waited in a queue for about an hour to walk through metal detection arches. There were not many of them, but people still kept arriving. Cops were checking bags. Men and boys were checked more thoroughly. Cops took away even small bottles with water, and made people throw even opened bottles away into boxes standing near arches.

Checks were conducted thoroughly.

Striking with batons OMON soldiers were penetrating into the crowd, while beating everyone around, selecting any persons indiscriminately, grabbing them and driving away to paddy wagons. There were some strange people, I hadn’t seen them before, who were jumping out of the crowd, throwing some objects including plastic bottles or tubes, and immediately hiding back in the crowd. Which surprised me most, policemen didn’t catch those people at all. Some detainees were released right near paddy wagons, I didn’t know why.

EWA No. 467

OMON soldiers were whacking people with batons. I wanted to stop that horror, but was knocked off my feet. I lost consciousness. I came to myself only when I was carried into a paddy wagon. Then I was delivered by it to the OVD Basmannoye and put into a cage. At about 12 a.m. there came representatives of the Public Monitoring Committee, and as soon as they had questioned me on all relevant issued they called for an ambulance. Doctors stated the diagnosis: “brain commotion, admission to hospital refused”.

I saw two OMON soldiers swiping a young boy with their batons. He was trying to protect himself with his arms because there were no ways for him to escape; to turn his back towards them seemed even more dangerous. One of the cops standing close to that boy sat down on his hunkers and pulled that boy by the lower part of the boy’s trousers, while being behind the back of another cop. The boy fell down flatwise with his nape onto the pavement and hit his head heavily. He practically fainted. His head started bleeding. A group of the cops grabbed him and carried away in the cordons direction.

The cops dressed in helmets and police outfit were joining in a line of 5-7 soldiers, selected a victim for arrest, and rushed into the crowd. Then they grabbed the victim and pulled him/her to a paddy wagon.

When I entered and was walking along Kamenny bridge I saw a group of very young people with masks on their faces. They were provoking some mess.

There were aggressive and athletic-looking people present at the site. They were travelling freely through cordons to the both sides of it. Those people were crying out slogans of extremist character, while pushing cops and throwing plastic bottles into cordons. I saw neither of those provokers among the people detained by the OMON.

I wanted to leave the meeting and the march, but it was possible to do only through Bolotnaya naberezhnaya. As I was walking in that direction, there was no check-up at metal detection arches at that time. I reached the stage but the cops wouldn’t let me leave the meeting site because of some order from their chiefs.

I passed to the right of the stage at about 7.30-8.00 p.m. I tried to leave several times but all in vain – the cops didn’t let anyone go out of cordons.

I saw about 20-30 detainees. The cCops were just grasping their hands, legs, even beating some of them without providing any explanations.

OMON grabbed a boy, knocked him off his feet and were going to pull him away. A girl caught hold of that boy at that moment. The cops couldn’t drag them both along the pavement. One of OMON soldiers ran up to me at that moment and shouted: “On the ground, bastard!” He tried to catch hold of my neck but failed: he saw his colleagues were stepping back and did the same.

People were knocked off their feet, beaten with their soldier boots and batons. I was caught too. But I didn’t walk myself – four OMON soldiers carried me themselves. Enraged, they tried to teach me to respect the law in their own manner: started swiping me with feet, fists and batons. I promised them to fix all blows later on. It calmed down them a bit. There were four people in the prison truck already – three young men and a girl. Our trip ended in the OVD Sokolniki. We were sitting in the stuffy and hot vehicle for two hours, without water, until first apprehended people were allowed to go out of it. They were badly injured people mostly. Two of them had their arms wrenched or broken, another guy had brain commotion. However, it should be admitted that the ambulance had to wait for about an hour until those people were allowed to leave the prison truck. I was allowed to go with doctors at about 11 p.m. only, after I had written and signed all necessary documents. The ambulance took me to hospital No. 54.

I paid attention to people wearing facial masks who were moving along with the crowd. They kept close to each other and didn’t get involved into any conversations with other demonstrators.

I witnessed multiple OMON soldiers assaults, who collided into people crowds, pulled out separate people out of it – people who were just crying: “It’s a shame!” The cops also used to arrest even peacefully standing people.

I saw a group of young people, all in masks and black clothes, rather organized.

I came to the rally with a Victory flag. I walked in front of the orchestra. Jam started, I was squeezed out beyond the cops’ cordons. A police colonel ran up to me, tore my flag to pieces, hit me into face and belly. I was lying on the ground, but he wouldn’t let me get up. Two OMON soldiers arrived, they took me to a prison truck. I was brought to the Khamovnichecky police department. They took my passport away, made me sign some documents, took photos, inked fingers on my hands. I asked for medical help, but my request remained without any reply. I was kept in custody until 3.00 p.m., May 8. It was in Tula, where I went to a traumatology center where the fact of chest injury was established.