A march by Chinese workers and a ban on a religious procession opposite the Kremlin. We report on freedom of assembly news...

A march by Chinese workers and a ban on a religious procession opposite the Kremlin. We report on freedom of assembly news

🟧 In Komsomolsk-on-Amur, five Chinese workers were brought to administrative responsibility after a march against unpaid wages. They were accused of organizing a mass presence of citizens in a public place. Two were given fines of 10,000 and 50,000 rubles; what punishment the others received is unknown.

🟧 In Chelyabinsk, two supporters of Maoism were arrested for 10 days over a banner opposing the blocking of Telegram. They were found guilty of holding an unauthorized protest. One of them was beaten by security officers.

🟧 Moscow City Hall explained the continued ban on rallies under the pretext of COVID restrictions by citing a “high risk” of illness. The ban has been in effect in the city for more than six years.

🟧 Under the pretext of these restrictions, the authorities for the first time in 30 years banned a religious procession opposite the Kremlin, held by parishioners of the Church of the Martyr Tatiana at Moscow State University. Believers were not allowed to leave the courtyard of the journalism faculty.

🟧 Officials in Irkutsk explained their refusal to approve a rally against blockings by saying they had counted “70,000 views and reactions” under posts about the planned protest, and that the city has no venue for that number of people.

🟧 Activists from Yakutsk and Irkutsk faced pressure after trying to get rallies against blockings approved. In Yakutsk, an activist was fined over a 2021 repost demanding Navalny’s release. In Irkutsk, the applicant was forcibly taken for a medical examination. A drug-treatment clinic found traces of marijuana in his system; a private clinic found nothing the same day.

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Workers’ march in Komsomolsk-on-Amur / Video from the Komsagram Telegram channel