Meet the new boss, same as the old boss... and so it goes back in Putin's USSR Russia. Some habits are hard to give up.
The Russian authorities have charged opposition leader and former chess champion Garry Kasparov following clashes with police in Moscow. He and other opposition figures were detained during a rally organised by Mr Kasparov's Other Russia coalition.
Mr Kasparov was charged with resisting arrest and organising an unauthorised protest. [...]
The trouble broke out at the end of the rally when about 100 protesters tried to break through police lines. They began to march to the election commission and were stopped by riot police.
The commission has barred Other Russia candidates from the 2 December election.
Mr Kasparov was forced to the ground and beaten before being detained, his assistant told AP news agency.
UPDATE (Sunday): More demonstrations, more brutality and more arrests.
Police rounded up scores of people demonstrating against President Vladimir Putin on Sunday, dragging protesters toward buses and beating some who tried to escape.
Hundreds of police armed with shields, body armor and truncheons bore down on demonstrators chanting "Russia without Putin!" in St. Petersburg. Among those detained was a likely contender in next March's presidential election, Boris Nemtsov.
"So many police proves they are afraid of us," Nemtsov told reporters before being taken away. Police said he was released soon after.
It was the second time in two days police have broken up an opposition demonstration in the run-up to Dec. 2 parliamentary elections. [...]
On Saturday, police detained dozens of anti-government demonstrators in Moscow, including former chess champion Garry Kasparov, who was sentenced to five days in prison in a hasty trial.
Putin's facade of normalcy is eroding more rapidly than ever. How long until he declares a "state of emergency" and comes out from behind the mask? And what will the Russian people do then?
Posted by Alan at November 24, 2007 12:23 PM