Opposition rally in Nazran (Ingushetia) violently dispersed

On Saturday riot police in the capital of Ingushetia, Nazran used batons, tear gas and fired shots into the air to disperse around a thousand participants in an unauthorized demonstration. The protesters were demonstrating against corruption and human rights violations in the North Caucasian republic of the Russian Federation.  They fought off the police with Molotov cocktails and stones.

There are reports of dozens of people being detained and beaten, including journalists and human rights defenders. A journalist from Radio Svoboda was detained then later released.

The organizers of the rally than called on the protesters to move away from the central square of the city and rescheduled the protest action for 23 February.

Those journalists detained for around 8 hours were released and forcibly taken out of Ingushetia to Vladikavkaz, the capital of Northern Osetia.  They were informed that they needed to leave the “zone of counter-terrorist operations”. In the last few days Nazran and a part of the territory of Ingushetia have been thus designated.

The human rights defenders (who according to Oleg Orlov from the Memorial Human Rights Centre are his colleagues in the republic) were released late on Saturday evening after being detained for around 10 hours.