Russian Police Crack Down on Anti-War Protests

As easy as it is to call the situation in Eastern Europe “Russia vs Ukraine,” we ought to remember that we’re actually looking at Putin vs Ukraine/everyone– Russian citizens do not necessarily support their leader.

Thousands of people have staged protests across the country, with the biggest crowd gathering in Moscow, which is great news for decency in the world.

It’s less good news for the people themselves, because they aren’t protected by the first amendment or anything like it, so lots and lots of them are now detained.

More than 1,700 anti-war protesters have been arrested across 54 cities in Russia – as scores of demonstrators voice their fury over Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

At least 957 people were detained in Moscow as Kremlin forces advanced on the Chernobyl nuclear disaster site on Thursday.

Some sources are reporting that protesters, or anyone who speaks against Putin’s decision to invade Ukraine, will be charged with treason. I don’t think I need to tell you how dangerous that is.

Videos have circulated on social media showing the protests and aggressive treatment of protesters by police, and they are not super easy to watch. But here are some anyway, because this is history and the absolute least we can do in support of these anti-war efforts is acknowledge them:

Canada showed them how easily it could be done! pic.twitter.com/7GmEDqkunt

— ELIJAH SCHAFFER (@ElijahSchaffer) February 25, 2022

This is Moscow, #Russia. People went out to the streets protesting against the war and Russian invasion in #Ukraine. According to human rights defenders, more than 150 people have been detained so far for protests in Russia. Their number will most certainly grow pic.twitter.com/ZcdY3vLtws

— Hanna Liubakova (@HannaLiubakova) February 24, 2022

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDYyXrslXCs