Moscow April 22, 2013
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SummaryMany fundamental issues arise following the analysis of all the data and information accessible to the Public Investigation. The evidences given by the police officers in the course of criminal cases and certain extra sources make us doubt the spontaneous nature of the cordon breach. Thus, at 3.39-3.41 PM, when the demonstrators column was standing on the beam of building No.40 in Bolshaya Yakimanka Street (i.e. the movement had not yet begun), Tonya Samsonova, the Echo of Moscow radio reporter, published a photo of the OMON line at the beginning of Bolshoy Kamenny Bridge at her Twitter account. Konstantin Rykov, a famous pro-Kremlin politician, asked her if she was placed to the breach point (see the tweet screenshot – fig. 2). At the same time, according to the evidence of one of the police officers read out at the trial of the M. Kosenko case, “the command to be ready for detentions was received at 3:45-3:50 PM.” According to the video files, the detention groups were formed and moved towards the cordon not later than 5:10 (participants’ video-evidence No. 531, part 3, http://youtu.be/91sg7G28JGk). According to the evidence of the police officers read out at the trial, they received a command for riots breakup at about 4:00-5:00 PM, i.e. at least an hour before the breach and the clashes with the police. If we consider these facts together with the evidences of the provokers among the participants and their actions, it is evident that the breach was a result of a large-scale provocation, preplanned by the law-enforcement authorities with the purpose of creation a reason to forced dispersal and suppression of the approved peaceful assembly. The qualification of subsequent events shall be the subject of consideration of this fundamental issue. Meanwhile, this issue was not even raised in the course of the investigation. The mass riots were assumed by the investigators and the responsibility for them was imposed on the participants of the gathering. 4.2.6 Confrontations and clashes. Maly Kamenny Bridge, Bolotnaya Embankment, Kadashevskaya Embankment6:05 PM Three minutes after the OMON line on Bolotnaya Embankment was restored, a bottle of clear glass with flame liquid was thrown out of the crowd (contrary to the information provided by the authority, it was the only bottle thrown). It was thrown not into the OMON line but along a high trajectory, 15-20 meters long behind the cordon. There were only journalists and separate participants involved into the breach there (Minaev-TV part 4, http://youtu.be/1SKUyIPgCuE?t=23m35s). The most surprising was the fact that bottle chips were not presented as material evidence among the evidences assembled by the investigators. It became clear at the M. Kosenko trial. It must be admitted that the area where the bottle fell was behind the police cordon and couldn’t be trampled intensively. V. Yastrubinetsky, who suffered from burns, was recognized as a victim (Valentin Yastrubinetsky was that very accidental passer-by who had his trousers burnt in the course of the disturbances). 6:10 PM S. Udaltsov moved towards the stage with an intention to continue the approved meeting. The police line across the Embankment in the area of Luzhkov Bridge was broken, but when S. Udaltsov went up to the stage and said a few words into the megaphone, he was detained by the police. A. Navalny and then B. Nemtsov (at 6:32 PM) were also detained and taken to prison trucks. Despite the detentions, the participants on Bolotnaya Embankment continued to behave peacefully (perhaps they did not realize the seriousness of the situation and some of them even were dancing in a ring– fig. No. 3, participants’ video-evidence No. 535 http://youtu.be/s63GQfV1ohA). 6:21 The OMON forces initiated the attacks the demonstrators on Bolotnaya Embankment, but later moved back. At the moment of the first attack, the OMON agents began to show unjustified and unprovoked cruelty towards the demonstrators who showed almost no resistance (video by Politvestnik http://youtu.be/s0F5p_o4CGM): PE No. 52 “I stood at the bus stop on that square and saw closed OMON lines well (on the back side of the square). They were just waiting for the command. It was pretty quiet there, and there was no clarity about when it was going to begin. A young man was moving in front of the line reading an article of the Constitution: “the citizens of the Russian Federation shall have the right to peaceful assemblies, without weapons, to hold meetings, meetings, demonstrations, marches and picketing.” Then one of the OMON agents hit him on the shin with his moulded sole boot (and later that young man was taken to a prison truck for reading out the Constitution). Then the groups of OMON agents of 5 to 9 persons began to stand out from the lines and form up a "boar's snout". Running up on the area, they cut into the front lines of the demonstrators, grabbed out someone and took him to a prison truck which stood behind the line. Some people were brought there in a calm way, while many others were forced to run with their heads almost pressed to the ground”; PE No. 97 “I was detained at the end of Kamenny Bridge at about 6:30. The OMON went on the offensive, and the crowd turned back into a stampede. I stayed where I was and the OMON agents ran past me. When I turned around, I saw that one of the OMON agents caught up with some guy, knocked him down to the ground and began to bludgeon him with his knee on the guy’s back. I saw him bludgeoning the guy twice”; PE No. 120 “The groups of 8-10 OMON agents rapidly cut into the crowd of demonstrators, grabbed out 2-3 people, and moved back. The demonstrators tried to prevent them from doing so by holding their companions. Those who tried to resist were beaten by the OMON agents with bludgeon, arms and sometimes feet. The detained were dragged by their arms and feet, sometimes they were dragged on the ground towards the area behind the cordon where the prison trucks were located”. When the crowd was standing on the corner of Bolotnaya Embankment, several flares and empty plastic bottles were thrown out of the crowd. The faces of some people who threw the flares could be distinguished in the snapshots; however none of them is currently being under investigation. 6:25 PM To protect themselves against OMON attack, the participants of the meeting took sections of the metal barriers which were standing by the side of the trees at the corner of Maly Kamenny Bridge, and created a barrier for OMON forces in their first attack area. After several brief attempts, the barrier was broken by the OMON (6:29). The OMON agents started spontaneous and cruel detentions of demonstrators, pushing them to the Obvodnoy Channel Embankment parapet. Examination of the video materials and participants’ evidence shows the absence of any aggressive actions against the police by the demonstrators: PE No. 122 “I would like to make a comment regarding the metal barriers: people were trying to isolate themselves from the OMON forces, to save themselves behind the fences, and the police went to the assault, using gas. I made photos of this”. The barriers were used by the demonstrators exclusively to protect themselves against the OMON attacks; the participants moved forward only if there was free space in front of them when the police line moved back (participants’ video-evidence No. 533 http://youtu.be/HfVqD-4bkos) PE No. 141 “In a few minutes the law-enforcement authorities launched an operation aimed at ousting the people arriving. The demonstrators shouted, “Give us the barriers!” the barriers from the pillar near the bridge entrance were passed to the first lines, they started to push the interior troops”. The police was storming the established barriers using their bludgeons to hit the hands and the heads of those holding the metallic sections (participants’ video-evidence No. 533 http://youtu.be/cYJEhgE_1is). PE No. 28 “I saw the OMON agents bludgeoning people who were holding the barriers with which they were trying to cut themselves off the OMON and the police committing violence actions, after the second barriers. <...> I saw the police officers hitting the demonstrators with their bludgeons and feet”; PE No. 146 “Again, at some time we tried to create a barrier of metallic structures (about a dozen of them was left by the military students in the park), they were passed forward, I also took part in it, but the effect was only temporary– the OMON attacks increased, people were beaten through the barriers and arrested”. Then, during about an hour, the events moved under the same scenario: 5-20-person OMON groups would cut into the crowd of demonstrators, hit them severely, grab out the following detainees and move away. Almost all the witnesses report on a quite inexplicable atrocity of the OMON actions: PE No. 82 “I remember, when then went out once again, they attacked a little girl in a brown jacket. She did not even realize anything and only covered her head with hands”; PE No. 93 “I also saw an OMON agent hit an old woman on her head in the beginning of the OMON attack near the turn from Bolshoy Bridge to the Square. She just fainted and sat on the ground”; PE No. 96 “The OMON’s actions were not just strict, they were savage: they bludgeoned people easily, on their heads. As a rule, the OMON agents would attack one person in fours or fives, knock this person down and them with bludgeons and feet. Many of the demonstrators were covered with blood”; PE No. 99 “The police used bludgeons all the time. They attacked people, detained those who fell, hit those who tried not to let their companions be taken away, detained roughly, dragged on the pavement, hit people with fists. I saw a young OMON agent lose his bludgeon and hit the demonstrator right in his face. Girls and elderly people also were attacked by the armed police just on the spur of the moment”; PE No. 114 “I saw them hitting women, men of all ages with different flags, banners or without them. People were falling on the ground and keep lying and they hit them with bludgeons and feet”; PE No. 120 “I saw the OMON agent bludgeoned an old woman on the head, and then dragged her behind a cordon by her arms and legs. Several people shouted "free the woman" and tried to release her, but after they had received several bludgeon hits they stepped back”; PE No. 146 “I saw the OMON’s acts of violence against the citizens many times. When they cut into the crowd, they bludgeoned everyone easily and severely. I saw people covered with blood, someone was lying on the ground with his head broken. People were searching for medical aid”; PE No. 150 “One woman was pressed against the barrier, and an OMON agent was violently bludgeoning her on the head. She was wearing a white jacket and a purple and brown skirt. She was pressed by people and OMON, so that she was not even able to raise her hands or dodge the blows”; PE No. 184 “… there was a guy in front of us. He was about 25-30 years old, he told the police to stop beating unarmed citizens, and then he was knocked down with first on his face and began falling towards us. My friend and I caught him by the arms and ... dragged into a crowd of unarmed citizens. I do not remember how I found myself in the crowd, I was told that they had managed to pull me into the crowd before I caught the police bludgeon, but I lost my friend there. The next day, a photo of him with a broken head, a T-shirt and jeans jacket covered with blood was published by many mass media”. It should be noted that in most cases strict police actions were in no way motivated: PE No. 78 “The most outrageous incident that I've seen, was a police officer hitting a man wearing a jacket and holding a case in the face with his fist in a glove with the plates of only by the reason that he persistently but politely asked to be released from the cordon ring!”; PE No. 90 “I saw exactly for two times the OMON agents hitting old women. Therefore I stayed there”; PE No. 180 “I saw beyond the OMON line ... the OMON agents grabbed an old man by the hand behind his back, but he evidently had no power to resist. This was unjustified violence. I remembered this incident, because it struck me”. It is necessary to pay particular attention to the evidence of the participants which have been already listed (as well as many others) containing stories of hitting with bludgeons on the head, which is forbidden by virtue of Art. 22.2.1 of the Federal Law On the Police Forces: “Article 22. Restrictions and limitations relating to the use of special equipment. 2. Special equipment shall be used with the following limitations: 1) special police baton cannot be used to hit persons in the head, the neck, the sternocleidomastoid area, the stomach, the genitals, or the heart area.” It is obvious, that the OMON agents committed numerous violations of the requirements of this article of the Law. From the side of the demonstrators (mostly from the corner of Maly Kamenny Bridge and Bolotnaya Embankment), pieces of asphalt flew towards the OMON. Young men in masks began to throw them:
However, the police, for unknown reasons, did not pay attention to them, and continued to attack the peaceful demonstrators (fig. No. 4 photographed at 6:53:22 PM, PE Nos. 90, 96, 106, 260, 535 etc.). The situation with those pieces of asphalt requires special consideration. According to the available information, some parts of the pavement had been taken to pieces the day before:
Meanwhile, contrary to the safety requirements, the pieces of pavement were not taken away and were raked in a pile: PE No. 455 “But now one detail has emerged from the subconscious. When we turned from Maly Kamenny Bridge to the right, to Bolotnaya, I noticed a large pile of stones and broken pavement on the right, next to the narrow passage which was later dubbed a bottleneck... Well, something like road works. The whole pile was enclosed by metallic railings and construction tape. It seemed strange to me: a large pile of stones in the middle of cleanness and splendour, there was not even a single cigarette butt on the pavement... And it seemed there was nothing to repair. There were no communications, the pavement was OK. And now I think ... Why there was a pile of stones in the middle of Bolotnaya, which was the narrowest and the weakest point, though it was forbidden to take plastic bottles of mineral water through the metal detection arches? But to break several square meters of pavement on one of the central squares you will need a permission of an authority higher then some local housing department, won’t you?” Those prepared piles of pavement are mentioned in many evidences: PE No. 66 “On the turn we noticed some guys, near whom pieces of pavement were lying. Some of them were wearing dark bandages on their faces, and they were handing out stickers against Udaltsov, Navalny, Nemtsov. Several stickers were pasted on the corner of the bridge”; PE No. 373 “As for the pavement... When I was walking at the turn to Bolotnaya Embankment, I paid attention to the numerous (dozens!) weighty (several kilograms) pieces of pavement which were lying on the sidewalk and the lawn directly on the 90-degree turn, behind the demonstrators outraged by the OMON actions. This pieces of pavement were lying in a plain view, but nobody into my sight wanted to use this proletariat weapon at that moment (neither later); PE No. 456 “I came to a group of four Police Colonels who were talking cheerfully to each other. I literally screamed to them that the people, who were ousted to the channel, where the stones were lying on the ground, would like to use them…”. We can’t claim that only the provokers threw the stones, because the police severity caused people’s resistance as well: PE No. 205 “I saw a guy who ran to the Embankment and began to break off a piece of pavement. When he was asked for what reason he did so, he answered “but ours are being beaten” and ran back into the crowd”. Meanwhile, the stones were thrown without any precise target and struck the OMON agents and the demonstrators to the equal extent. Many of the participants tried to stop throwing stones: PE No. 90 “I saw stones flying towards the OMON, but people began to shout not to throw, to avoid striking the ours, so they stopped“; PE No. 37 “From time to time the demonstrators could not stand the nerves, and began to throw everything that came to hand back to the soldiers. However, those who began to throw pieces of pavement at the police were rapidly stopped by their companions…” It should be noted, that according to many participants’ reports, the flares and stones flying to the police were thrown back into the crowd of unarmed and unprotected people (video – http://youtu.be/Ujs_gVZMV0A) PE No. 35 «I saw the flare flying from the OMON”; PE No. 97 “I personally saw a stone flying to the police. A police officer (he didn’t have a badge) took the stone and threw it back into the crowd”; PE No. 44 “Yes, I saw people throwing stones (pavement) into the police. And they threw bottles of water. The police threw bottles of water back into the crowd”; PE No. 122 “And I have a photo showing a police officer throwing a burning flare, or how it is called, into people dressed in summer clothes“; PE No. 187 “After the cordon was broken, people began to throw bottles and stones into the OMON agents, which began to detain everybody. And the OMON agents put them up and thrown back into the crowd. This was an evident abuse of authority; there were no people in helmets in the crowd. Several stones struck the people standing next to me”. It should be noted that the police detained even those who were just trying to stop throwing pieces of pavement, but not those who were actually throwing: PE No. 48 “At that time there was a scream. The police officers bowed and I, as I turned, saw stones, and a bottle of dark yellow glass. I screamed as loudly as possible asking to stop throwing things. But I failed and had to dodge. Suddenly stones and bottles flew densely out of one point, as if at a command. It was like a volley. And it happened just when the police stopped and did not hit the demonstrators. It looked like a provocation to me. For instance, it was impossible to carry a glass bottle through the arches. As I shouted to those who throw to stop immediately I happened to turn back to the police and for some reason was taken by another police group who approached me from behind. They saw that I was trying to stop the throwing, but for some reason I was detained and taken to a prison truck”. The version of the detainee may be confirmed by the independent version of another participant: PE No. 249 “I saw one of these groups grabbed a man and dragged him to the prison truck after he tried to stop the people who threw pieces of pavement. He stood with his back to the cordon line and shouted to those who threw pieces of pavement, "Stop! What are you doing!" Such police actions, certainly did not contribute to the conflict localization and the reduction of confrontation”. Young people wearing masks and dressed in black played a very active role at this stage of the conflict. The evidence of many participants let us assume there were provokers supporting the police and the OMON: PE No. 369 “I witnessed (and photographed) a man, who seemed to break through the OMON cordon as a provoker, then stood behind the Ministry of Internal Affairs officers line and talked to them, evidently pleased with his own performance”; PE No. 301 “The most unusual thing I saw was the same young men who had attracted my attention at the beginning of the movement. I personally saw these young people moving behind the others, leaking a little closer to the point of confrontation between the police and the demonstrators, and throwing smoke candles from behind the backs of the latter. Their actions were identical and coordinated, but they moved without coordinating their actions with each other. I followed some of them with great interest and found out that after throwing they departed to the right behind the police on Bolotnaya Embankment, behind the second turnstiles, and then came back from there and continued to throw something from behind the heads of the demonstrators”; PE No. 96 “I saw more than a dozen times the guys in black masks ran out of the OMON line, ran up to the front lines of the demonstrators, turned, threw pieces of pavement at the OMON and again ran away behind them”; PE No. 74 “Suddenly, two young men ran up to the OMON agents, one of them grabbed a helmet and threw it into the river. The OMON agents tried to grab him, but there were a lot of people, elderly people, they helped the guy to get away. The scared OMON agent ran over the barrier, and the guy who grabbed his helmet ran after him, with a smoke candle in his hand. He didn’t throw it, but spoke to the OMON agent. I thought that they were familiar to each other”; PE No. 456 “When I came down from the public garden, I saw a couple of sturdy fellows with flares looming behind backs of people who tried to defend themselves against the OMON and at every opportunity pushing the people in their backs. In addition, they picked up everything that was lying on the pavement (shoes, banners, bags) and threw this all at the OMON. …Five minutes later I saw them negotiating with each other and came to them. I asked: "Well, boys, tired of your mission?”... My question was heard by one of the men standing close by. He immediately said that he also found those people suspicious. ... I decided to come closer to the public garden, and there again met my observant colleague, who told me that the guys we were watching had just gone through the OMON line having showed some documents”; PE No. 452 “Then I saw a group of 10-12 young people behind the OMON with rucksacks on their shoulders, later they put the rucksacks on the pavement, took out black masks, put on the masks and threw something into the crowd. And then there was a smoke, and it became difficult to breathe. The smoke was evidently toxic. The OMON parted and let this group of masked people into the crowd”. We could see an unknown person in a dark hood in the photo (fig. 5 filming time 6:45:06 PM, PE No. 535) among the attacking OMON group, several similar people are marked on the photos among the participants of the meeting and behind the police cordon talking peacefully to police officers (fig. № 6, 7). Among the evidence of the participants we must distinguish the following:
The apparel and the appearance of those people among the demonstrators resembled anarchists or members of the Antifa movement. However, many regular participants of the protests emphasize in their evidence that they had not seen any of them before or after May 6, and that those guys’ actions did not resemble actions of radical protesters (participants’ evidence Nos. 154,157, 171, 280, 334, 369, 387, 432): PE No. 154 “At the approach to Maly Kamenny Bridge I noticed a group of young men in dark clothing, with masks on their faces who ran across the entire movement. They did not have any distinguishing badges, stickers or ribbons. Someone shouted that they were Nazis or anti-fascists. But, in my opinion, they were not like them: they behaved like strangers”; PE No. 157 “There were strange people, unlike the usual activists, but rather like tramps, wearing black clothes and masks. They threw something. Even before the conflict there was an attempt to provoke a conflict by a group of such persons in black and medical masks”; PE No. 171 “The provokers among the demonstrators were not anarchists or other left radicals recognizable by attributes. They were people without masks, worn ordinary clothes, acting singly and in small groups in different areas. There were no more than 20-30 people. It seems that they were not among those arrested”; PE No. 280 “It seemed strange to me that in the beginning of the column, in the third or fourth line, I saw several young men in masks. They were in the middle of the column, behind the leaders of the opposition and did not look like a group of young anarchists!”. 6:12 PM Tanya Samsonova, the Echo of Moscow radio station reporter, reporting from the balcony of the Udarnik cinema hall, reported in her Twitter “A policeman is taken – he was thrust with a knife”. This note was for some times repeated by Sergey Minaev, who kept commentary on Minaev-TV Channel (the video was removed from youtube). The origin of this message is unknown, but the Public Investigation possesses the information that this message was passed by police transmitters, perhaps with a purpose of provocation of even greater aggression towards the citizens: PE No. 112 “At the very beginning of the events, as I stood at the entrance of Maly Kamenny Bridge, people holding hands on the heads and other body parts were passing by me. They said that they were beaten by the police. One of them said that before the police dispersed the demonstrators, he heard the police information on the radio about a police officer wounded by the demonstrators”; PE No. 408 “At the beginning of the clashes the OMON intercommunication spread information of two OMON agents getting knife wounds. After this false report the OMON began to fight people. OMONmoskou also reported of two victims in its’ Twitter”. During the clashes, pepper or tear gas was repeatedly sprayed. It is impossible to establish who exactly sprayed the gas, especially since, under mysterious circumstances, no gas cans were found on the square by the investigators. The participants’ evidence regarding this circumstance is rather contradictory, though most of them indicate that the gas was used by the OMON agents. In addition to the above PE No. 83, there are a lot of statements of the same kind:
Some versions are “unaddressed”, but all of them admit the fact of the use of gas: PE No. 44 “Somebody on the square sprayed pepper gas. I found a can on the pavement later”; PE No. 48 “Then there was a strange choking smell, perhaps it was tear gas, as I had a tickling in my throat, gasped and my eyes watered”; PE No. 171 “In one of such attacks tear gas was used, I did not notice anyone to spray it”; PE No. 385 “They use gas!” this message passed through the crowd repeatedly. There really was a smell of some gas. But I didn’t see who sprayed it and what kind of gas was used”. Only one of the participants affirmed that he saw a gas can in the hands of demonstrators, noting, however, that this applied to those “sporty” young people: PE No. 440 “I have seen young people of 18-25 years old, dressed in jogging trousers, jeans, T-shirts and light jackets. They threw stones and plastic bottles at the OMON. Somebody used a pepper spray. It is difficult to say whether they were organized or not. There were few such people among all the demonstrators”. The impact of the gas was aggravated by the impossibility to leave the area of the meeting. The toughest clashes occurred when the police pressed the citizens to the quay parapet at the bottom of Maly Kamenny Bridge as people there had nowhere to step back:
The inadequacy of the OMON use of force was almost provocative: PE No. 171 “Several actions of people in the OMON uniform were of deliberately provocative character. One person in uniform called young people from among the demonstrators for a fight, by waving a bludgeon and inviting to fight (as it used in street hooligan fights). In the other case a young boy was taken out of the crowd and dragged for several meters along the pavement, they also were kicking him, as they stopped, the guy showed no signs of movement. The uniformed man looked around people who were at a distance of about 10 meters of him and did not try to interfere, and then hit the lying guy in the groin, and looked at the people again, but nobody interfered, and then they dragged the guy. I was standing directly in front of this person and now I can easily identify him. I strongly affirm that his actions were deliberately provocative and aimed at the escalation of violent conflict”. The reliability of this testimony is confirmed by a video (http://youtu.be/mXwLUG-FuMU). The cruelty of the police actions caused a natural reaction of resistance from the citizens:
However, in general, the power resistance was expressed by the attempts to prevent anyone to take people away from the crowd, to keep the demonstrators from being pulled out of the lines, to liberate detainees, as well as to protect those beaten from further attacks: PE No. 20 “Initially, the demonstrators were behaving unaggressively, I would just say timidly, yet there were the representatives of the law-enforcement authorities. But there was a feeling as if something is inflated police since they acted inadequately – easily bludgeoned people, though people did not show violence and did not behave aggressively. It was after this the fight had already started. Someone tried to pull their friends out of the hands of OMON; someone was beaten by OMON agents with flagstaff. However, in my opinion, the crowd suffered of police lawlessness for a long time, at about thirty minutes”; PE No. 59 “The OMON agents (2 of them) roughly tried to pull a young women in light raincoat out of the line formed by them (people were pressed against the railing of the bridge). At the same time they bludgeoned a young man (probably accompanying a woman) and the other people who tried to prevent this act of violence with their bare hands”; PE No. 96 “Yes, I saw the demonstrators tried to repulse with their bare hands when the OMON agents throw demonstrators down the ground or dragged towards the cordon. Several OMON helmets were torn away and thrown to the Obvodnoy Channel. I did not see any demonstrators using the bludgeons taken away; they all were also thrown into the water. The OMON agents were not spared, but people beaten them with bare hands, sometimes feet”; PE No. 106 “I also saw the demonstrators in clashes tore away the OMON helmets (and threw them to the river); a OMON group of two to thee persons were knocked down and got several kick with feet from the demonstrators. However, all the soldiers of the group stood up and walked away under their own power”; PE No. 336 “Thus, people who came to the coordinated meeting were trapped. It was not about “violence against the OMON” but of the forcible detention of innocent people. People protested. Empty plastic bottles flew to the OMON, and then someone threw a smoke candle. In response, OMON agents began to bludgeon people, marching, ousting the crowd back. Some people were beaten severely during the detention. Then pieces of pavement flew to the OMON. However, there were few of those who threw them. I even rebuked one of them for this. While, on the other hand, I understood them: they protected themselves, as OMON agents were hitting people, they couldn’t bear that anymore. Women and elderly people were also among the detainees. Some of the participants tried to “save” these people; they grabbed the OMON agents and detainees for sleeves. Some people managed to pull them out of the OMON hands”; PE No. 190 “OMON agents ran past me, and I found myself on an almost empty square in the middle of which a young man or woman lay writhed with their head in their hands, so I could not look into at the moment. An OMON agent threatened him (her) with a bludgeon. I shouted to him, "Do not hit! It is lawless!" and ran towards him, hoping to protect the lying one from the hit on the head. But I was grabbed by a few other OMON agents, and dragged”. It should be emphasized that the vast majority of the demonstrators did not undertake any tough actions against OMON agents, even when they found themselves unarmed and alone: PE No. 290 “I saw an OMON agent without a helmet, he was pushed away from his comrades and looked around in horror, as if waiting for reprisal. People around were just laughing at him, asking why he was not so brave then. He ran to catch up with his colleagues, nobody prevented him”. 6:20 – 7:00 PM For all this time, a considerable part of the meeting participants (elderly people, people with children, women, disabled persons, in the first place) were trying to leave Bolotnaya Embankment, in fear for their lives and health. However, the police undertook nothing to let the participants of the meeting from the territory, though one of the main objectives of the police is to ensure the safety of citizens (in any case, Art. 1 of the Federal Law On the Police Forces proclaims: “The purpose of the police. 1. The function of the police is to protect the life, health, rights and freedoms of the citizens of the Russian Federation, foreign citizens and persons without citizenship... 2. Police shall come immediately to the assistance of anyone who needs to be protected...”), there was no concerted effort to let the participants of the meeting leave the territory. On the contrary, in many cases, the police prevented people from getting out and would let them out only under the pressure. Meanwhile, the situations of preventing citizens from leaving Bolotnaya Embankment arose repeatedly at the different areas. Thus, the preventing took place also near the stage, i.e. in Bolotnaya Street (participants’ evidence Nos. 20, 122, 216, 271), and in fact on Bolotnaya Square:
These facts are confirmed by a large number of other participants (see 8.3 Annex to the Chapter 4. Participants’ Evidence, Figures, Links to videos). Such police actions directly violate the provisions of part 5, Art. 16 of the Law On the Police Forces: “In carrying out the actions specified in Parts 2 - 4 of this article (i.e. “Surrounding (blocking) of terrains, residential spaces, and other objects”), the police shall take measures to ensure the normal activity of the people, to explain the most suitable routes of movement to citizens under the circumstances”. Even when the passages were opened, people had no opportunity to get any instructions and explanations regarding the possibility of leaving the meeting from the police and the OMON representatives. These facts are supported by a variety of evidence: PE No. 103 “People just stood there. I myself asked the OMON agents, where should we go, but they did not answer and just kept standing”; PE No. 175 “There was no guidance or instructions from the law-enforcement authorities for several hours. Some police officers did not answer the questions, and some of them gave confusing answers, which showed they also did not understand the situation”. In many cases, the actions of police cannot be only be qualified as provocative: PE No. 171 “We could not get out of the conflict area because everything was blocked with the OMON lines. As we were in the area closest to Luzhkov Bridge, there was an active fighting involving the both sides in the neighbouring area between the OMON lines situated closer to Maly Kamenny Bridge. Several people wearing the OMON uniform began to pull people one by one out of our group twisting their arms behind their backs and taking away. On my question to one of these people, why they did so, and did not let us go, as we were not involved in the fighting, he didn’t say a word and got the electric strike and began to click it in front of my face with a grin. There were people of all ages in our group, including a small old woman. When we were released, some young people turned to that person in uniform with a question if he was not ashamed to keep an old woman as well as the yond and healthy people and suggested him to take a gun. He answered grinning that next time he would do so. Only in rare cases and after persistent demands would the representatives of the police take into account the state of the demonstrators and allowed them to leave the territory because of unwellness: PE No. 159 “A man saw that we felt bad and helped us get over the high fence. An OMON agent allowed us to come to the fountain. Here came another man and a woman who had come from Chernobyl to express their protest. The woman was sick because of gas”. Attention must be paid to the evidence of the participants regarding non-assistance by the police and lack of preparation for the event from the side of the authorities, which is unacceptable. The emergency service was not warned of the mass march and was not prepared for it: PE No. 188 “The second smoke candle flew almost to us. Most likely, it was gas. I had a serious heart attack. Friends tried to take me out the battlefield. Actually, we broke through the OMON forces, who were standing on the embankment on the way the Tretyakov Gallery. The ambulance arrived to the Tretyakov Gallery, and took me to the resuscitation department. It is important! The ambulance had not been warned of the march and no additional brigades were involved. The doctors who contacted the dispatcher told me that. I heard all he had been told. The hospitals had not been warned of the march and its possible consequences, too”; PE No. 408 “Well, besides the beatings, I think, there was another outrageous case: the Ministry of Internal Affairs’ officers refused to call the ambulance for a wounded woman whom we had taken to the OMON cordon, though the ambulance cars were within the sight. They call them only under the pressure”; PE No. 165 “When the fire on me was extinguished, I went to look for an ambulance. That time OMON agents were thrashing people on the embankment, that is why I was able to leave the scene freely”. Numerous participants’ evidences confirm that the incomprehensible actions of the law-enforcement authorities repeatedly raised the situation close to panic, which could cause the unpredictable consequences: PE No. 183 “…To say that I was shocked is to say nothing at all. The worst thing was that I did not understand what was going on there. I did not know how to behave and what to do at all. I've only ever felt the danger to my life”; PE No. 187 “We tried to do so [To get out on Bolotnaya Embankment - Editor], as the panic on the bridge had become quite evident. Everybody saw the amount of the OMON forces and the trucks looking like military equipment which were located in front of us. People around were saying, “They will kill us”, “The meeting is sanctioned, why are they aiming guns at us” and were looking for a way out”; PE No. 77 “Meanwhile there were more and more people on the embankment, we understood the OMON on the left of the Udarnik cinema hall were pushing people at our direction. It was very scary, and we realized that we there was going to be a crush”; PE No. 103 “…it was really scary, not only because of the crush, but also due to the fact that we did not realize where to go, there were no ways out of the square at all”; PE No. 145 “That time, the people were beaten with sticks from behind the OMON backs and driven even more aggressively to the channel parapet. There was a probability that people will start to fall into a river or press each other. I started crying to OMON agents that tragedy was going to happen then and it would be a shame for the whole world”; PE No. 297 “There was no passage to the square, in any case, it was completely unavailable for us, as the column of the width of entire Yakimanka Street just set itself the line and then had nowhere to go. People pressed from behind as they had not yet realized what was happening, it became crowded, stuffy, and at some point scary when the word “Khodynka” came along the lines”. A truly expressive frame has been provided as a photographic evidence of the panic (fig. № 8, PE No. 536). The participants in their evidences repeatedly emphasize that such actions could result in many victims among the civilians: PE No. 92 “As the demonstrators did not rise to provocation, everything went off almost all right, people managed to avoid mass clashes and perhaps victims, but the pretext for sanctions against the displeased was created”; PE No. 77 “It was a provocation of the authorities. It is a miracle that no one died at the crush, caused by the police”; PE No. 307 “Perhaps the authorities needed to March 5, 1953, when lots of people died on Trubnaya Square”. Maly Kamenny BridgeAlong with the OMON raids against the demonstrators, several police lines were pushing the demonstrators away from Maly Kamenny Bridge. The pushing was performed exceptionally by force, was accompanied by accidental detentions and created a threatening crush of civilians. Numerous participants’ evidence emphasize it: PE No. 78 “The police command “Press, press” seemed strange to me”; PE No. 82 “When the OMON forces were pushing us out of Maly Kamenny Bridge (at a rather high speed) they knocked down many people. We fell under their feet (Thanks God! They hit upon stopping). A skinny young man gave me a hand and helped me to stand up (I am 52 years old). I turned round to thank him, and in my eyes they (two or three of them) grabbed him, twisted his hands back and dragged him behind the line. <...> Then he turned out to have his rib broken…”; PE No. 117 “When pushing those who did not go away, regardless of gender and age, the OMON forces, marching in close order, used kicks, hits on the legs, back heels and bludgeons from the second (supporting) line. When they were marching in open order (with their hands free), they were bludgeoning separately those whom they did not like”; PE No. 144 “Yes, during one of the OMON attacks everybody poured back. A girl fell dawn behind me. I was afraid that she would be trampled began to help her to stand up. So I found myself “on the front line” and was caught. Most likely due to a grey beard and glasses, they took me as E. Limonov (I heard a policemen from the back said, “It's not him”). I was held with a bludgeon by my throat, plus I was hit with another bludgeon on the chest. X-ray picture showed no ribs fracture, but they were hurting then for a long time”. Bolotnaya Embankment7.00-7.05 PM The OMON aids against the participants on Bolotnaya Embankment, accompanied with acts of violence against the citizens and random detentions, continued until 7:00-7:05 PM, when demonstrators formed a chain by joining hands across Bolotnaya Embankment: PE No. 153 “The self-organization of people and activists saved us from this hell: people joined tightly, cut themselves off with posters and created a human wall from the public garden to the river, facing the Udarnik cinema hall and hits of the brutalized OMON agents. However, to this time the scene had been already smashed up and the crusaders took in the reverse, dispersing and pushing this last citadel of common sense”. Behind them, on the embankment, the demonstrators set three tents (http://youtu.be/R9oJ4hIyeFU?t=26m18s). For a rather long time, OMON agents tried to use the old practice of pulling individual demonstrators out of the chain. Then they undertook a series of unsuccessful attempts to push the whole crowd. They helped themselves with bludgeons actively but unsuccessfully, acting from behind the first line of soldiers who were marching in a close order. After several attacks the chain of demonstrators was pushed to the side of Luzhkov Bridge, and the entire mass of the demonstrators, remaining on Bolotnaya Embankment was divided into two parts: one - in the area of Luzhkov Bridge near the toilet facilities, the other - at the exit from Maly Kamenny Bridge. The second line of OMON agents moved from the side of Luzhkov Bridge. In an attempt to block the movement of that line, three cabins of portable toilets were overturned and pulled out into the street by the demonstrators. However, this insecure line was quickly overcome by OMON and the demonstrators were trapped between the OMON lines and the embankment parapet: PE No. 146 “After the clashes and attempts to build a barricade of toilets (I was there, and barely had time to jump out of one of them) there was some lull, as we were surrounded all around”; PE No. 179 “…Closer to the end of the events the OMON agents began to attack the demonstrators on every side, eliminating the opportunity for us to step back, the men began to build barricades of toilet cabins, there was suggestions to break our the doors and use them instead of shields”. The police actions for blocking the demonstrators were accompanied with cruel detentions: PE No. 33 “They dragged people who did not resist and were standing peacefully along the pavement in the very place where the entire pavement was covered with faeces of the turned over composting toilets. Women were dragged by the hair. The people were pulled out of the crowd without any reason or aggression from them”; PE No. 93 “All OMON attacks near the stage and toilets were accompanied by beatings of the demonstrators with rubber sticks, often on their heads. Some of the demonstrators fell down after such hits and were dragged into the prison trucks. I saw none retaliatory measures from the demonstrators’ side they only tried to protect their heads”. 7:30 PM The OMON forces began to push this group of the demonstrators towards Small Moskvoretsky Bridge and further to Novokuznetskaya and Tretyakovskaya underground stations: PE No. 154 “I stayed on the embankment near the parapet until the OMON lines began to push us from the square. They ousted us in a very rude way: pushed, grabbed our clothes, pushed with their feet, spoke roughly”; PE No. 177 “After I was waiting for 40 minutes, the barriers were removed, the troops ran towards the Balchug hotel and the exit from the Bolotnaya Square was opened. The exit was in the direction of the Balchug hotel. All people from Bolotnaya Square were leaving it this way. There were street cleaning machines blocking the way to Kremlin Bridge and Vasilievsky Slope on the left, in the direction of Vasilevsky Island and sideways of the Balchug hotel. They stood on Bolshoy Moskvoretsky Bridge, too. You could only go to the right towards Tretyakovskaya underground station; PE No. 219 “Then, when almost everybody was taken, we were directed towards Novokuznetskaya underground station. People were moving reluctantly, shouted “Shame!” and other things to the police, but still walking without clashes. When we went to Maly Moskvoretsky Bridge <...>, we saw it was also surrounded with armoured cars and police. People were standing and chanting, but we all were driven to Novokuznetskaya underground station”; PE No. 245 “We were systematically pushed to Bolshaya Ordynka Street. We moved almost in front of those who pushed us. Sometimes, the displacement was suspended and then we could stand for a while. The most interesting is that from time to time a snatch squad ran from behind the OMON line and grabbed those demonstrators who stood closer to them. They acted irregularly, perhaps, just for reporting”. Kadashevskaya EmbankmentAt the same time, OMON agents began to separate actively the rest of demonstrators into small groups near the turn from Maly Kamenny Bridge to Bolotnaya Embankment and push them into Maly Kamenny Bridge. After pushing the demonstrators from the meeting area, they did not stop to prosecute and detain them in Zamoskvorechie district. Behind Maly Kamenny Bridge, a part of the demonstrators were pulled into Polyanka, the others were pulled to Kadashevskaya Embankment by the OMON line. The police and the OMON agents were actively cleaning up Kadashevskaya Embankment from Maly KamennyMaly Kamenny Bridge in the direction of Lavrushinsky Lane: PE No. 29 “I saw the military working dogs ousting the demonstrators out of Kadashevskaya Embankment, there were clashes too, people were outraged, tried not to leave as long as possible. They were showing a kind of persistence in their struggle, in a peaceful, non-violent resistance to the regime. The regime dogs persecuted people, and bludgeoned them. A guy had his head broken. I saw he was bandaged and somebody called the ambulance”; PE No. 82 “The OMON agents lined up in a chain at the corner of Kadashevskaya Embankment, near the red street cleansing machine. People also stood right next to them. I was still standing on the pavement on the bridge (side view). And suddenly, without warning, they raised their bludgeons and began to beat everybody! And people had nowhere to escape! There was a particularly quick OMON agent looking as a representative of the oriental nations (I remember his profile). Bastard! As they drove us along Kadashevskaya Embankment to the Tretyakov Gallery (they moved in a tight line and sometimes stopped), a groups of 5 – 7 of them would from time to time jump out of the line and attack somebody (usually those who could not dodge), and drag the to a prison truck behind us. We also moved away, not all together, but in groups (if they came - we moved away, if they stopped - we stopped too). The prison truck was full and they brought the other one... I remember them went out once again and together attacked a little girl in a brown jacket. She did not even realize anything and only covered her head with hands. We shouted not to touch her! But they dragged her to the prison truck. Gits!”; PE No. 206 “After the OMON agents pulled people out off Maly Kamenny Bridge, I was for a long time standing at the barrier at Yakimanskaya Embankment (for all this time people were freely getting into and out!) <...> The OMON agents leaved Maly Kamenny Bridge and went to Bolshaya Polyanka and began to press people along Kadashevskaya Embankment. Somebody was pushing OMON agents, and some was making noise by striking the metal fence at the construction on Kadashevskaya Embankment. Nobody attacked the police <...> Another OMON group pushed people from Luzhkov Bridge, and there, in front of Lavrushinsky Lane, they were connected. Then they began to push us slowly along Lavrushinsky Lane”. The pursuit and detentions continued in the lanes and courtyards: PE No. 242 “A little later, when the people on the Embankment were separated with OMON lines and pushed towards Bolshaya Ordynka Street (the demonstrators did not resist and moved in that direction), closely to me a snatch squad appeared from behind the OMON line. One of the Ministry of Internal Affairs officers used a “throw legs” hold, when an attacker strikes at the feet of a man as a fish, grabs his feet, and knocks people down with his shoulder, so that he falls flat on his back and hits his head. So this hold was used against a woman. Unexpectedly, she fell and hit her head hardly”; PE No. 290 “At about 8:20 PM on May 6, I witnessed an OMON agent was beating a young pregnant woman... Her boyfriend made a remark to the policemen, who were roughly twisting an elderly woman. The events took place in Lavrushinsky Lane, not on the square <...> About six OMON agents attacked the guy and began to beat him cruelly. Of course, his girlfriend tried to protect him. She was thrown to the ground and an OMON agent, three times larger than her, hit her on the back with a bludgeon. She shouted: “I’m pregnant!” It did not help. We hardly managed to release her. The OMON agents ignored our requests to call an ambulance. We did it ourselves. Several women saw this and were ready to testify. We were shocked by the fact of the stupid obstinacy with which the OMON agents ignored the request to call an ambulance. Only a third group of them responded to a request to clear the way for the ambulance. The ambulance dispatching service was for a long time trying to clarify if the injured pregnant women was the participant of the events on Bolotnaya. The ambulance took Elena to hospital with a threat of miscarriage. I called to the Echo of Moscow radio station to report on this fact. I also accompanied Elena to the 13th City Hospital. The pregnant girl in some time feared to testify on this case because of possible problems at work. By the way, the woman [whom the young man tried to protect - Editor] did not take part in the demonstration. She was just walking along the embankment. The guy was taken to Butyrskaya Internal Affairs Department. From there, he was taken to the Botkin Hospital with a craniocerebral injury”; PE No. 309 “Several OMON agents suddenly ran after a guy of 18 years on Kadashevskaya Embankment. They caught up with him, knocked him down the ground and began beating him with rubber sticks. A few people tried to prevent them from beating. The guy still managed to run away, but then he sat down and took his head in his hands. A man came up to him, perhaps, it was his father. He asked him to get up and leave, but the guy continued to sit and moan. His head was bleeding”; PE No. 171 “There is a church on the right from Tretyakovskaya underground station. People were trying to hide behind the pillars of the temple to escape the OMON, but they were grabbed and dragged into buses. We reached Tretyakovskaya underground station and I went home. It was at about past nine o’clock in the evening”. The last detentions of the demonstrators took place near the Yakimanka Internal Affairs Department. A lot of people came there to help the detainees: PE No. 34 “I was detained near the Yakimanka Internal Affairs Department. I was sitting on a stone. The OMON agents came to me grabbed my arms and legs and dragged to the prison truck”. |