Russia - Another Protest Met By Massed Police

By Cernig

A second demonstration by anti-Putin protestors has been met by heavy-handed police action.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) - Riot police beat and detained dozens of anti-Kremlin demonstrators Sunday on a second day of protests that tested the weak opposition's ability to challenge widely popular President Vladimir Putin.

As in Moscow a day earlier, only a few thousand people turned out in St. Petersburg to criticize the government. Opposition leaders called that a heartening response in the face of the huge police forces massed against both rallies.

Putin's foes said the harsh handling of demonstrators, who included many elderly people, would fuel a growing sense that the leader is strangling democracy ahead of parliamentary elections in December and a presidential vote next spring.

The demonstration of around 2,000 protestors was met by a force of around 8,000 police. That kind of overkill speaks of a very real fear on Putin's part.

Yet Putin shows up in polls as very popular, which has weakened the opposition's case...but then again, he does control the main TV news. "The Rossiya channel on Sunday showed only brief footage of the Moscow protest - after opening with a report on Putin, a judo black belt, attending a martial arts match."

You know, I could draw a parallel here. "Eyes of the soul" and all that.