MOSCOW, May 17 (Itar-Tass) —— The police have detained six persons who were handing out foodstuffs to protesters from the opposition “camp” on Moscow’s Kudrinskaya Square near the Barrikadnaya metro station, a spokesman for the Moscow police department told Itar-Tass on Thursday.
“After numerous warnings, the police detained six persons,” the spokesman said. They were taken to a police station.
In the mean time, according to a man, who introduced himself as hieromonk Gleb Trofimov, the foods that were seized by the police in the opposition camp had been proved by the Russian Orthodox Church. “We are feeding up people here. This is not a political action, we are outside politics,” he said. In his words, it was not his own initiative to bring meals and water to the protesters. He reached here upon the blessing from the St. Petersburg’s diocese of the Russian Orthodox Church. He said he was a monk from St. Petersburg’s Monastery of St. Alexander of the Neva and was studying in Moscow. In his words, the detained girls are volunteers helping to hand out foods.
So far, there are no official comments from the Russian Orthodox Church.
According to earlier reports, police detained several protesters, including Yevgenia Chirikova, a green activist. The situation is aggravating, with protesters trying to reach police buses, where the detained are kept.