The Union of Journalists of St. Petersburg will lend legal assistance to three colleagues who were arrested on Saturday in time of an unauthorized March of Dissent in the center of the second Russian city of St. Petersburg.
The protest rally in St. Petersburg was attended by 100 people, 60 of whom were detained by police.
Three reporters from local media who had professional equipment had been detained when carrying their professional duties, Ruslan Linikov, editor in chief of the European magazine said.
The journalists were arrested despite they had shown their press identification cards, he said. The reporters had been kept for four hours in police station. Policemen released them only after having drawn up administrative violation protocols against them. Linikov said the journalists are accused of disobeying police officers and participation in authorized rally.
"All of them [journalists] will attend the Union of Journalists of St. Petersburg on Monday, they will meet with representatives of the union's legal service to draw up a common legal position and submit the matter to the City Prosecutor's Office," Linikov said.
St. Petersburg's police have approved the information about the arrest of the journalists, saying they had been detained for "hindering policemen from doing their work."
A total of 95 opposition protesters who took part in unauthorized March of Dissent rallies in Moscow and St. Petersburg were detained on Saturday.
ST. PETERSBURG, August 1 (RIA Novosti)
