Thousands arrested over anti-war protest in Russia

KABUL (Pajhwok): Police have detained more than 4,300 people at Russia-wide protests against President Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, according to an independent protest monitoring group on Monday.

Thousands of protesters chanted “No to war!” and “Shame on you!”, according to videos posted on social media by opposition activists and bloggers.

Dozens of protesters in the Urals city of Yekaterinburg were shown being arrested. One protester there was shown being beaten on the ground by police in riot gear. A mural in the city showing President Vladimir Putin was defaced.

The footage and photographs on social media could not be independently verified.

Russia’s interior ministry said earlier that police had detained around 3,500 people, including 1,700 in Moscow, 750 in St Petersburg and 1,061 in other cities. The ministry said 5,200 people had taken part in the protests.

The OVD-Info protest monitoring group said it had documented the detention of at least 4,366 people in 56 different cities.

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