The largest unauthorized protest rally in recent years took place on July 18, 2013, after the verdict in the Kirovles case.
The authorities still haven’t been able to forget that rally — it was such a slap in the face. Now, in their usual fashion, having “retreated and then struck from the shadows,” they have set in motion a case similar to the Bolotnaya case (the criminal case against protesters after the 2012 Bolotnaya Square demonstration).
“Grabbed a police officer by the arm and caused pain” — that’s the kind of thing it’s all based on.
Cowardly scumbags.
This, by the way, is also about rallies and marches. The debate pushed by propaganda hacks, fools, and provocateurs — over questions like “will protesting achieve anything or not,” “should we turn out on the outskirts or not,” and “we’ve already protested five times and still nothing has changed” — has led only to people leaving the streets. The authorities, meanwhile, take the absence of mass protests as a direct signal that they can do absolutely anything they want.
Of course, no rally will make things better overnight, but their absence definitely makes things worse.
P.S. A reminder that there still has never been any criminal case over the beating of Dmitry Monakhov on July 18.