Arkhangelsk police dispersed student demonstration
About 80 students today assembled on a central city square in Arkhangelsk to protest against what they see as regional authorities falsification of the recent city mayors election.
The students hardly had time to assemble, however, before police units forcefully dispersed the young people. Several of the students were brought to the police station, Regnum reports.
Asked by journalists, police officials said election winner Viktor Pavlenko had ordered the police action. The central square of the city, the location of the city administration, has the rest of the day been sealed off by police.
The Arkhangelsk students accuse Viktor Pavlenko and his associates in the regional administration of having falsified last week’s city mayor’s elections. The local election commission first declared opposition candidate Larisa Bazanova as election winner with only 70 votes. Then a recount of the votes, demanded by Acting Mayor Pavlenko, shifted the results in the power establishment’s favour.
