Gary Kasparov Arrested Over Political Fight

geddes writes "World chess champion turned opposition leader Gary Kasparov was arrested this morning while leading an march through Moscow in opposition to Russian President Vladamir Putin. Kasporov is a leader of the 'Other Russia' coalition which has been banned by the government from appearing on TV, and had been denied a marching permit. From the New York Times: 'Essentially barred from access to television, members of Other Russia have embraced street protests as the only platform to voice their opposition ahead of parliamentary elections in December and presidential elections next March. Early this month, Mr. Kasyanov's and Mr. Kasparov's Web sites were blocked, though it was unclear by whom.' Kasparov was later released from detention, though he was still fined for participating in the event."

Lets not get holier than thou here in the US

[shaitand]

We like to think we have freedom of speech and a peaceful protest like this wouldn't be broken up here. That is false. In Russia they require permits and his permit was denied. He and some other protesters were arrested for marching without a permit.

Most don't know that here in the US you are required to have a permit also, just as they did in Russia they can refuse to grant your permit will try to silence your protest and just happened in Russia. If you March anyway you WILL be arrested for trying to exercise your free speech.

Re:Lets not get holier than thou here in the US

[Paradise Pete]

Most don't know that here in the US you are required to have a permit also

Sure, but "We don't like what you have to say" is not, by itself, sufficient grounds to deny one.

*cough*

[Anonymous Coward]

Pretty much what happened in 2004 in New York at the RNC [2600.com].

*cough*

Re:Unsurprising

[vishbar]

Only, instead of killing people, he just chases them out of the country, or locks them up.

Errrrr....do you know who Anna Politkovskaya [wikipedia.org], Ivan Safronov [wikipedia.org], or Alexander Litvinenko [wikipedia.org] are?

Putin kills. Maybe not as much as Stalin, but if you are a "big fish" against Putin...expect retaliation.

Re:You have to say this for the Russians

[Brandybuck]

Reality to the Reality-Based Community: You don't get arrested in the US for peacefully marching against Bush.

IMHO, these goons are too lenient with your stuff.

[plasmacutter]

people like you need to move to china or iran where "those damned people who want rights" will be put in their place.

honestly, IMHO you can go get violently soddomized for your blanket, trollish comments.

the vast majority of protests are perfectly civil until cops come in and instigate violence.

i have plenty of access to videos of cops throwing the first blow, then running around beating people in attempts to confiscate their cameras and prevent the documentation of their fascist behavior.

Re:Sorry, couldn't resist ...

[cyphercell]

When will more Americans die from terrorism in any given year than die on America's highways? I believe we will see that occur in our lifetime.

Terrorist Incidents > by Region Range: 01/01/1968 - 04/14/2007
North America Incidents:588 Injuries:4344 Fatalities:3568
Middle East / Persian Gulf Incidents:13788 Injuries:52063 Fatalities:25859
Global TOTAL Incidents:32904 Injuries:114327 Fatalities:49379

http://www.tkb.org/IncidentRegionModule.jsp [tkb.org]

The U.S. Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has released preliminary projections on motor vehicle traffic crash fatalities and injuries during 2005. According to a preliminary report, 43,200 died on the nation's highways in 2005, up from 42,636 in 2004. Injuries dropped from 2.79 million in 2004 to 2.68 million in 2005, a decline of 4.1 percent.

http://www.trb.org/news/blurb_detail.asp?id=6195 [trb.org]

What the hell are you talking about? If you'll look above global terrorism in the past 39 years, barely passes the number of deaths caused by cars in 2005 in the US alone. There are better sources for information than wikipedia. You're wrong, you're just wrong.

News photographs from the event

[biohack]

Part of the story is the other participants in the opposition movement. Despite his apparent popularity in the West, Kasparov's participation alone probably would not have caused the permits to be denied.

A gallery of news photos [lenta.ru] from the event may help to understand the story better. I am not going to try explaining the backgrounds of all the opposition groups, but one of them is called "national-bolsheviks" and even a quick glance [lenta.ru] at their symbols [lenta.ru] may suggest that the West would not want the leaders of this movement to rule in Russia. Some "national-bolshevik" events have turned violent in the past, so the Russian Federal and Moscow City governments may have a legitimate security concern when considering the location and type of these events.

In this case, the authorities actually did allow the opposition meeting [lenta.ru] on one of squares in Moscow, but not the preceding march [lenta.ru] starting from a different square. So there was no total ban, but the opposition did not get everything they wanted. The response of Western governments to the anti-globalization marches may be a reasonable analogy. I am not saying that there is no concern over democracy in Russia in general, but in this specific event both sides have contributed to the outcome.

For those who cannot read the captions in Russian, these are pictures [lenta.ru] of Kasparov [lenta.ru] from the march.

Re:Putin...

[MajorBlunder]

And they need land and resources.
You must be kidding. Saying that Russia is in need of land and resources is like saying that China is facing a manpower shortage. Even accounting for the percentage of the country covered in permafrost, they have more usable land than any other country in the world. And as for their natural resources, they are hardly hurting there either.

Re:Re-use of old term

[Anonymous Coward]

Oh my, is this for real? The first US patent granted was for making potash. Now, dont you think there was prior art? Read up on the history of engines, trains, cars, electricity, chemistry, drugs....

Re:Re-use of old term

[iamplasma]

Okay, how about Samuel Slater [wikipedia.org], who took an apprenticeship in a British factory, memorised the workings of the machines. In evasion of British laws limiting the distribution the details of such inventions, he disguised himself as a farmhand to leave the country with the knowledge, which he used to set up factories in America, earning himself fame and wealth, despite basically being an IP thief. Whatever one thinks of patents and the draconian IP laws applicable to such inventions, he was let in on a trade secret, and used deception to succeed in stealing that secret.

So anyway, there's an example, no need to accuse people of making things up. Can we go back to the US-bashing now we have evidence?

Re:ches mate...

[miscz]

Prague Spring [wikipedia.org], Polish People's Republic wasn't part of USSR either but we helped beating Czechoslovakia into submisission. Don't forget about Warsaw Pact [wikipedia.org] and other means that Russia used or is using to make it's neighbours obedient, even today. I will be trolled into oblivion but whatever.

Re:You have to say this for the Russians

[jtcm]

You don't get arrested in the US for peacefully marching against Bush.

Actually, you might get arrested [aclu.org] for peacefully protesting against Bush.

From the link:

• Kalamazoo, Michigan - ... When the protester refused to enter the protest zone, but insisted on standing where other people had been allowed to gather, he was arrested. ...
• St. Louis, Missouri - ... Two protesters carrying signs critical of the President's policy on Iraq were ordered into a "protest zone" approximately one-quarter mile away, a location completely out of sight of the building. When the protesters refused, they were arrested. ...
• Neville Island, Pennsylvania - ... But when retired steelworker Bill Neel refused to enter the protest zone and insisted on being allowed to stand where the President's supporters were standing, he was arrested for disorderly conduct and detained until the President had departed. ...
• Columbia, South Carolina - ... When Bursey insisted on being allowed to remain where other members of the public stood, he was arrested on state and federal criminal charges. ...

Re:News photographs from the event

[shutdown -p now]

A gallery of news photos from the event may help to understand the story better. I am not going to try explaining the backgrounds of all the opposition groups, but one of them is called "national-bolsheviks" and even a quick glance at their symbols may suggest that the West would not want the leaders of this movement to rule in Russia. Some "national-bolshevik" events have turned violent in the past, so the Russian Federal and Moscow City governments may have a legitimate security concern when considering the location and type of these events.

You conveniently forget to note that National Bolsheviks are only one party in the present anti-Putin coalition [theotherrussia.ru], which includes pretty much everyone from the USSR-nostalgic communists to liberal democrats dreaming of Westenized Russia. What more, there is nothing "bolshevik" and very little "nationalist" in the present-day NBP - after its leader Eduard Limonov has backed the liberal opposition in the days of the Khodorkovsky affair, the hard-liners left the party. As it is, it's essentially a unitarian / democratic socialist party.

In this case, the authorities actually did allow the opposition meeting on one of squares in Moscow, but not the preceding march starting from a different square. So there was no total ban, but the opposition did not get everything they wanted. The response of Western governments to the anti-globalization marches may be a reasonable analogy.

Absolutely not. The response is not to the marshes themselves, but to the vandalism that occurs during them. There was none in this case - it was a peaceful demonstration beaten up by police forces (including special units) and the army. The whole thing about them being allowed to meet but not marsh, while officially true, turned out to be bullshit as well - young men who looked like potential participants were picked by the police right as they left the metro, before they could even reach the square where they could, presumably, legitimately protest. A few people who came to join the march from other cities were detained right at the rairoad stations as they arrived.

You might want to watch the video - a report [youtube.com] on a Russian TV station (as far as I know, the only one that even mentioned the whole thing). It's more telling than the pictures, even if you can't understand Russian. Here's another one [youtube.com] (not normally available in Russia), though that one is hardly impartial. Still worth watching for the pictures, though. Also, here [livejournal.com] are a few more photos, made by a participant, that show just how many forces were involved in quelling this. Note the army trucks with people in the uniform inside on the photo with McDonalds.