The Moscow opposition camp that moved to another location in the center of the Russian capital may receive the status of a festival, the Kommersant daily reported on Thursday citing a municipal assembly deputy.
“My colleagues and I will gather on Thursday to agree a festival near the Barrikadnaya [subway station]. In this way, the camp will receive an official status,” Presnensky District Municipal Assembly Deputy Yelena Tkach said.
Over 30 people protesting against President Vladimir Putin were detained in downtown Moscow’s Kudrinskaya Square late on Wednesday, a law enforcement source told RIA Novosti on Thursday. Some of them have reportedly been released later.
A Russian opposition figurehead, Ilya Yashin, was among them as the activists continued round-the-clock street protests on Kudrinskaya Square after being ejected from their previous Occupy-style tent camp in another part of the Russian capital.
Riot police dismantled the camp in the Russian capital’s fashionable Chistye Prudy neighborhood early on Wednesday morning, briefly detaining over 20 people. Activists decided to continue with the protests and moved to Kudrinskaya Square next to a landmark neo-classical Stalin-era tower a short walk from the U.S. embassy.
A police spokesman said the protesters were violating public order, had blocked traffic on a nearby street and torn a rearview side mirror from a police van.
Opposition parliamentarian Ilya Ponomaryov wrote in his LiveJournal account that policemen also confiscated from the activists food, water and their pool of cash totaling some 250,000 rubles (over $8,000), without filing any of the necessary documentation. He also estimated the number of detained activists at 30.
The authorities earlier accused activists of causing some $650,000 worth of damage to greenery during their week-long stay at the Chystye Prudy camp, an accusation dismissed by protest leaders.
The Chistye Prudy camp was attended by up to 3,000 protesters at its peak and attracted activists of a variety of political persuasions, from anarchists to nationalists, all apparently united only by their opposition to Putin.
If the protests are given the status of a festival, it will mean independent local deputies will for the first time back street protests in the city, Kommersant wrote.
The opposition camp may also move to another location, Tverskoi Boulevard, Tkach said, adding that she has more powers there.
Putin's landslide victory in the March 4 presidential election was marred by allegations of fraud and the vote was widely criticized by international observers. The Kremlin said the election was fair.
Putin was sworn in for a third term as president in a lavish ceremony in the Kremlin on May 7 after four years as prime minister.
Opposition protests began on the eve of Putin's inauguration.
