All news

US ambassador concerned over detention of protesters in Moscow

“Troubling to watch arrests of peaceful demonstrators at Pushkin square. Freedom of assembly and freedom of speech are universal values,” McFaul wrote down

MOSCOW, March 6 (Itar-Tass) —— US Ambassador in Russia Michael McFaul is concerned over the detention of several protesters after a rally on Pushkin Square. He made a relevant entry in his Twitter microblog on Tuesday.

“Troubling to watch arrests of peaceful demonstrators at Pushkin square. Freedom of assembly and freedom of speech are universal values,” McFaul wrote down.

The For Fair Elections opposition rally, which the Moscow authorities authorized, ended at 21:00 Moscow time on Monday. However, after that several dozens of activists ignored the lawful demands of the police to go out. They were seeking to break through, putting up resistance to the police and were attempting to block the traffic. Finally the police had to detain several people. Special means were not used for this, the law enforcers acted absolutely correctly.

Earlier on Tuesday president Elect Vladimir Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov called  the actions of police during the rally professional and legitimate. “The opposition action had two parts: legal and illegal,” the official said. “In legal and illegal parts the police showed the highest level of professionalism, legitimacy and efficiency in terms of law.”