MOSCOW - Video footage of a Russian police
officer punching a young woman in the stomach has stirred anger
among many Russians who believe the authorities have used
excessive force to disperse weeks of political demonstrations in
Moscow.
The clip, filmed on Saturday and later circulated online by
Russian celebrities with millions of followers, shows the moment
two helmeted riot policemen drag the woman, Daria Sosnovskaya,
to a waiting police bus.
Sosnovskaya, 26, is seen struggling to break free and trying
to trip up one of the police officers who responds by punching
her in the stomach, prompting one of the reporters filming the
incident to sarcastically call the policeman "a hero".
The statistician was one of over 200 people detained in
central Moscow on Saturday for taking part in what authorities
said was an illegal protest following a sanctioned demonstration
to demand free elections in the city legislature.
The authorised part of the protest was attended by around
60,000 people, the White Counter monitoring group said, making
it the biggest event of its kind in eight years as an
increasingly emboldened anti-Kremlin opposition movement
challenges President Vladimir Putin's tight grip on power.
Popular singer Egor Krid shared the clip of the arrest with
his 10.7 million followers on Instagram, as did Sergey Lazarev,
another well-known singer, with over 4 million followers. The
clip garnered well over 3 million views as a result.
View this post on Instagram
A post shared by Sergey Lazarev(@lazarevsergey) on Aug 11, 2019 at 11:19am PDT
In an expletive-laden post Krid said he had filed a
complaint with the police asking them to find and punish the
police officer involved.
"What kind of a scumbag do you need to be to hit a member of
the fairer sex," he wrote. "I don't care what she did. This kind
of thing just shouldn't happen."
Lazarev called the police officer's behaviour a "disgrace"
and many Russians took to social media to condemn the incident
using strong language.
Russian authorities have rejected accusations they have used
excessive force to disperse such protests, which have now been
going on for five weeks, although the United States and the
European Union have questioned their use of force.
Moscow's police force declined to comment by phone, but the
Interfax news agency said it had launched an internal
investigation into the incident.
Sosnovskaya, who had earlier attended the sanctioned
demonstration, said she was detained after complaining to police
about their arrest of a man who appeared to suffer from some
kind of a disability.
She has since filed a complaint about the manner in which
she was detained.
In a reflection of the anger the clip generated, Pavel
Chikov, a human rights lawyer, had offered a reward of 100,000
roubles ($1,500) to anyone who could identify the police officer
who was wearing a face mask and a helmet at the time.
One Russian online outlet later said it had identified him
and published his name and picture while declining to take
Chikov's money. Moscow police said the officer identified had
not been involved in the incident.
Several Russians hurt by police at the protests are seeking
redress through the courts.
Activists say they are planning to hold another protest on
Aug. 17.