Fine for a mannequin protest and the detention of inflatable dogs. Here are the latest news on freedom of assembly...

Fine for a mannequin protest and the detention of inflatable dogs. Here are the latest news on freedom of assembly

➡️ In Irkutsk, at a CPRF rally, activists from Limonov's party were detained . One of them is still under 18. They were charged with participating in an unauthorized protest and with the "display of extremist symbols."

According to the activists, at the police station their phones were seized without any paperwork, they were threatened with physical violence, and were also urged to sign a military contract and leave the party in exchange for an end to the prosecution.

➡️ The city administration of Novoaltaysk banned communists from holding a meeting with residents in a Speakers' Corner area. Allegedly, it is "not a place for gathering people." The meeting had been planned by State Duma deputy Maria Prusakova and deputies of the Altai regional legislative assembly.

Speakers' Corner areas are special places for holding public events without prior approval from the authorities. Earlier, the prosecutor's office had already declared a previous ban on this same event unlawful.

➡️ In Irkutsk, police detained inflatable dogs at a picket against a bill on killing stray animals. A report for violating the rules on holding a public event was drawn up against 55-year-old animal volunteer Tatyana Tayurskaya.

Police declared the dog-shaped balloons to be a "means of visual agitation." They considered the slogans "I Want to Live" and "Looking for a Home" on the blanket of another picketer's dog, Yulia Shakiro's, to be the same kind of agitation. According to the activists, the case materials against Tayurskaya ran to 45 pages: police studied camera recordings and questioned the salespeople at the store where she bought the balloons.

➡️ Vologda deputy from New People Alexander Borisov was fined 20,000 rubles over a picket with mannequins. The protest was devoted to the inaccessibility of medical care. The mannequins carried signs reading: "I've been waiting for an appointment with a general practitioner for 2 months already", "While I was standing in line, my illness became chronic" and "I am a mannequin and I'm tired of standing in line". The court deemed the protest an unauthorized mass event.

➡️ A Kaluga court fined a communist woman for celebrating Lenin's birthday. Police drew up a report against deputy Marina Kostina because she laid flowers at a Lenin monument on April 22, the day he was born. Now she will have to pay 20,000 rubles.

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Mannequin protest / Video from Alexander Borisov's Telegram channel

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