A teenager detained at the protest rally against raising the retirement age in St. Petersburg has described how the Russian police operate.
The 15-year-old Makar Dyakonov was put into the same bus as a detained ‘Belsat’ journalist Raman Perl and described to him how people were detained in the Fiski side street near Lenin Square.
According to the teenager, the riot police blocked the protesters from the road from both sides and began driving people into the alley.
“I got into a stampede,” said Makar. — Then a policeman grabbed my backpack and dragged me, my legs were dragging along the ground. Later, another policeman picked me up and told somebody to put me on the ground. When I got up, the first policeman took me by the arm and said: “You are done with! They’ll put you in jail.”
About 1,000 people were detained at the rally of supporters of the policy of Aleksey Navalny against pension reform in St. Petersburg.
The Russian media reported that “people were being detained in packs”.
