Russian riot police clash with protesters after activist sentenced

People hold a rally in support of activist Fail Alsynov, who was charged with inciting ethnic hatred and sentenced to four years in a prison colony, near a court building in Baymak in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, in this still image from video published January 17, 2024. RusNews via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT. PICTURE WATERMARKED AT SOURCE.

Protesters rallied in support of activist Fail Alsynov after he convicted for inciting ethnic hatred, January 17, 2024.RusNews/ReutersCNN — 

Riot police fired tear gas, flash grenades and used batons to disperse demonstrators in Russia’s Bashkortostan region after a local activist was sentenced on Wednesday to four years in prison.

Videos showed supporters of Fail Alsynov clashing with police near the court where he had been convicted of inciting ethnic hatred, according to Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti.

Bashkortostan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs called the demonstrations an “unauthorized rally” and said police have begun investigating “mass unrest,” in a post on Telegram.

Some 20 people have been detained by police, according to OVD-Info, an independent Russian protest monitoring group. CNN cannot independently verify this number, but Russia has routinely carried out mass arrests at protests.

Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside a public building in the remote town of Baymak, with some waving the blue, white and green flag of Bashkortostan region, which neighbors Kazakhstan.

Law enforcement officers disperse the crowd during a rally in support of activist Fail Alsynov, who was charged with inciting ethnic hatred and sentenced to four years in a prison colony, near a court building in Baymak in the Republic of Bashkortostan, Russia, in this still image from video published January 17, 2024. RusNews via REUTERS ATTENTION EDITORS - THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. NO RESALES. NO ARCHIVES. MANDATORY CREDIT.

Protesters were heard to cry “shame” at police officers as they tried to disperse the crowds with tear gas.RusNews/Reuters

Protesters could be heard chanting “Freedom,” in a video posted on public Telegram channels and shared by OVD-Info. In another, protesters were seen throwing snowballs at police holding riot shields. Chants of “shame” could be heard after police fired tear gas.

Some social media accounts are reporting that internet connection was restricted in the area of the gathering.

Alsynov spoke at a rally in spring 2023 against the mining of a mountain considered to be sacred to the Bashkir people, a Turkic ethnic group concentrated in Bashkortostan and closely related to the Tatars.

The protests in Bashkortostan have become https://berdasarkanapa.com some of the most significant in Russia since its full-scale invasion of Ukraine nearly two years ago.

OVD-Info said Alsynov “faces a four-year sentence for speaking out against the Kremlin’s invasion of Ukraine.”

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*