Police Grab Ex-Chess Champ Who Opposes Putin

April 14, 2007 — -- Over a thousand people gathered in central Moscow today to protest against the Russian government's growing crackdown on political dissent and its increasing tendency to curb the country's newfound democracy.

The march -- banned by the Kremlin -- saw the presence of several prominent figures from the pro-democratic movement in Russia, including former world chess champion, Garry Kasparov and ex-Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov.

Kasparov was detained by police almost as soon as the demonstration began. According to an eyewitness account published on the Russian news Website, www.gazeta.ru, Kasparov was among 20 or so activists held by police as the march began to gather pace.

"This regime is criminal; it is a police state," Kasparov shouted as police hauled him away in a van.

He was released 10 hours later by a Moscow court, which levied a $38 fine on him for "public order offences."

In all, Moscow police admitted to having arrested 170 people, though activists claimed the actual figure was in the region of several hundred.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing multiple instances of unprovoked aggression towards demonstrators, with police using batons to push people back, and dragging them into police vans when met with resistance.

Local residents pointed to the presence of several "tough-looking, plainclothed men" and "vehicles without license plates" in the side streets surrounding Turgenev Square and Pushkin Square, where the protestors had gathered.

Hundreds of people marched down the streets, chanting "Shame, disgrace" and holding up human rights pamphlets from non-governmental organisations.

The demonstration broke up an hour and a half later, when the riot police began to disperse people and push them into the Moscow subway system.

In an interview with the only remaining truly independent Russian radio station, Echo Moskvy (Echo of Moscow), former Prime Minister Kasyanov said that he "witnessed riot police openly beating people up, with no attempt to hide it."

He added that the protest was organized under the aegis of the "Other Russia" coalition, in order to "demand free and honest elections and the right to free speech."