Sharjah24 – AFP: Over 4,600 people in cities across Russia were detained at protests on Sunday against Moscow's military operation in Ukraine, a monitor said, on the 11th day of the war.
A police spokeswoman said 1,700 people were detained in Moscow after around 2,500 took part in an "unsanctioned protest", while 750 were detained at a smaller rally of around 1,500 people in the second largest city of Saint Petersburg, Russian news agencies reported.
OVD-Info, which monitors detentions at opposition protests, put the figure of detainees in 65 towns and cities across Russia at 4,644 people.
It said police had used electric shockers on protesters.
It also posted witness photos and videos on Telegram messenger service showing riot police beating protesters with batons and demonstrators with blood running down their faces.
A police van carrying a group of detainees to a police station overturned in a road traffic accident, injuring nine, six of them members of the public, city police said.
In the second largest city of Saint Petersburg, with large numbers of riot police patrolled outside Gostiny Dvor, a building in the city centre where protesters usually gather.
These protests came after hundreds were detained at demonstrations further east, such as in the Siberian city of Novosibirsk and in Yekaterinburg in the Urals.
Russian police on Friday had warned that all attempts to hold illegal demonstrations on Sunday would be "immediately suppressed" and organisers and participants would face charges.
The latest detentions brought the total number of demonstrators held to more than 10,000 since February 24, when President Vladimir Putin ordered troops into Ukraine to carry out a "special operation".
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