Russian King Takes White Knight, Temporarily

By Cernig

While tycoon in exile Boris Berezovsky is talking about it - and being investigated by UK cops for doing so - chess legend Gary Kasparov has been walking the walk. Revolution, that is - although Kasparov wants peaceful change through popular demand rather than the forceful coup by a part of the current elite that Berezovsky wants.

Kasparov was briefly arrested, and at least 170 others thrown in jail, for demonstrating a banned anti-Kremlin rally in Moscow. Previously, Kasparov had said he had only escaped arrest by using his chess mastery to plan tactics for demonstrations by the "Other Russia" movement, for which he is a vocal figurehead.

The BBC reports:

Mr Kasparov leads the United Civil Front group, part of the opposition coalition The Other Russia.

He said he had been "walking with a group of people along the pavement without any slogans" when riot police had surrounded them.

"They grabbed everyone without distinction, without asking any questions," he said.

Before being pushed away, he shouted: "Tell your leaders that this regime is criminal, is a police state. They arrest people everywhere because they are scared stiff."

While the dpa German press agency (via Raw Story) reports accusations of police brutality:

Witnesses meanwhile said police used batons against protestors in the square. "They struck grandmothers and other pensioners," lawmaker Vladmir Ryshkov told Echo Moskvy radio.

Moscow police spokesman Viktor Biryukov insisted that the police actions were justified, saying all security personnel had remained within the law in implementing the protest ban.

Also speaking to Echo Moskvy by mobile telephone, Kasparov described his own arrest.

"We were merely walking on the pavement and had done nothing to break the law," the chess player-turned-political activist said. Between 100 and 200 supporters later gathered in front of the police building where he was being held to demand his release.

A police spokesman said Kasparov was arrested on the grounds of "openly provocative behaviour."

Such brutality certainly seems to bear out many claims that ex-KGB man Putin is leading Russia back into totalitarianism. Especially when coupled with barriers to free elections alleged by opposition groups but denied by Putin.

Still, Russia isn't quite there yet - a true soviet-style dictator wouldn't have released Kasparov again.

The BBC has pictures.