XPost: alt.war.nuclear, alt.politics.republicans, alt.fan.rush-limbaugh   
   XPost: talk.politics.guns   
   From: zinn@reno.us   
      
   More than 500 detained in both Moscow and St Petersburg, says monitoring   
   group, after Putin orders call-up of military reservists   
      
   Security forces detained more than 1,300 people in Russia on Wednesday at   
   protests denouncing mobilisation, a rights group said, hours after   
   President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia’s first military draft since the   
   second world war.   
      
   The independent OVD-Info protest monitoring group said that according to   
   information it had collated from 38 Russian cities, more than 1,311 people   
   had been held by late evening.   
      
   It said those figures included at least 502 in Moscow and 524 in St   
   Petersburg, Russia’s second most populous city. Unsanctioned rallies are   
   illegal under Russia’s anti-protest laws.   
      
   Russian interior ministry official Irina Volk, in a statement quoted by   
   Russian news agencies, said officers had cut short attempts to stage what   
   it called small protests.   
      
   “In a number of regions, there were attempts to stage unauthorised actions   
   which brought together an extremely small number of participants,” Volk   
   was quoted as saying.   
      
   “These were all stopped. And those persons who violated laws were detained   
   and taken to police stations for investigation and establish their   
   responsibility.”   
      
   One-way flights out of Russia were rocketing in price and selling out fast   
   on Wednesday after Putin ordered the immediate call-up of 300,000   
   reservists.   
      
   The Vesna opposition movement called for protests, saying: “Thousands of   
   Russian men, our fathers, brothers and husbands, will be thrown into the   
   meat grinder of the war. What will they be dying for? What will mothers   
   and children be crying for?”   
      
   The Moscow prosecutor’s office warned that organising or participating in   
   protests could lead to up to 15 years in prison. Authorities have issued   
   similar warnings ahead of other protests. Wednesday’s were the first   
   nationwide anti-war protests since the fighting began in late February.   
      
   AFP journalists in the centre of Moscow said at least 50 people were   
   detained by police wearing anti-riot gear on a main shopping street.   
      
   In St Petersburg, AFP reporters saw police surround a small group of   
   protesters and detain them one-by-one, loading them on to a bus.   
      
   Protesters were chanting “No mobilisation!”   
      
   “Everyone is scared. I am for peace and I don’t want to have to shoot. But   
   coming out now is very dangerous, otherwise there would be many more   
   people,” said protester Vasily Fedorov, a student wearing a pacifist   
   symbol on his chest.   
      
   “I came out to the rally planning to participate, but it looks like   
   they’ve already arrested everyone. This regime has condemned itself and is   
   destroying its youth,” said Alexei, a 60-year-old resident who declined to   
   give his last name.   
      
   “Why are you serving Putin, a man who’s been in power for 20 years!” a   
   young protester shouted at one policeman.   
      
   “I came to say that I am against war and mobilisation,” Oksana Sidorenko,   
   a student, told AFP. “Why are they deciding my future for me? I’m scared   
   for myself, for my brother,” she added.   
      
   Alina Skvortsova, 20, said she hoped Russians would soon understand the   
   nature of the Kremlin’s offensive in neighbouring Ukraine. “As soon as   
   they really understand, they will come out on to the street, despite the   
   fear,” she said.   
      
   In Ekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, police hauled on to buses   
   some of the 40 protesters who were detained at an anti-war rally. One   
   woman in a wheelchair shouted, referring to the Russian president:   
   “Goddamn bald-headed ‘nut job’. He’s going to drop a bomb on us, and we’re   
   all still protecting him. I’ve said enough.”   
      
   The Interfax news agency quoted the Russian interior ministry as saying it   
   had quashed attempts to “organise unauthorised gatherings”.   
      
   All the demonstrations were stopped and those who committed “violations”   
   were arrested and led away by police pending an investigation and   
   prosecution, it added.   
      
   With Reuters, Associated Press and Agence France-Presse   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)