Building democracy requires attacks against riot police?

On Tuesday, May 15^th, the State Duma discussed the events that took place in Moscow on May 6^th, when the authorized action of the opposition in the center of Moscow developed into mass riots and clashes with riot police. The deputies of the Russian parliament said that those who provoked the riots should be punished strictly. They also put forward a suggestion to remove deputy powers from several members of Just Russia party in the event their participation in the riots during the March of the millions was proved.

The lower house of the Russian parliament considered two draft decrees about the events that took place on May 6^th. One document was offered by the deputies from the faction of the Communist Party and Just Russia. In the document, the MPs urged the authorities to investigate the actions taken by police. According to them, the police violated people's rights. The second document was initiated by United Russia - the ruling party.

The goal of the draft decree from United Russia is to defend lawfulness. In this connection, the MPs said that the organizers or the provocation and those who were attacking the policemen should be held accountable for what happened.

"We demand the attacks against the police officers should be investigated thoroughly along with the calls for mass riots and provocative actions," Irina Yarovaya, the chairwoman of the State Duma committee for security and anti-corruption struggle said. "We also believe that both the executors - the people who were attacking the policemen - and the organizers should be held accountable," she added.

"There were rough violations of conditions for holding mass meetings and demonstrations. This led to provocations and attacks against police officers. An attack against police officers is considered a serious crime in the whole world," she added.

Deputy Sergei Zheleznyak stated that a handful of radical provokers wanted to increase the number of victims deliberately. They were not aware of possible consequences. They only endangered the lives of thousands of people, the deputy said.

It is worthy of note that there were only OMON police officers (riot police) hospitalized as a result of the clashes. The chairman of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, Alexander Bastrykin, stated that there were several names established as a result of investigation. It goes about the individuals who were urging others to attack the police on Moscow's Bolotnaya Square on May 6^th. Those people will soon be arrested, the official said.

In addition, MP Alexander Hinstein sent an inquiry to the Prosecutor General with a requirement to consider the issue about responsibility for the holders of certain accounts in social network, who openly incited others to commit illegal actions. "They were coordinating extremist actions on social networks," the deputy said in his address to the Prosecutor General.

In the meantime, there is a video on YouTube, in which a man, who looks like State Duma deputy Ilya Ponomaryov asks the crowd to break through the police cordon. The man in the video says: "Guys, it's thin here!" asking others to help break not a very strong line of the cordon. The description of the video says: "During the march on May 6^th, Ilya Ponomaryov started calling people to break through the riot police cordon towards B. Kamenny Bridge, having triggered mass riots."

"Guys, why do you stand there, come here and bring others," the man in the video said. Afterwards, the crowd starts pressing against the police cordon. A masked leftist radical can be seen poking the flag pole into the face of a police officer.

"Such appeals can entail a prison term of up to two years. One needs to understand that a State Duma deputy is immune. To call a deputy into criminal account, one needs to deprive them of their deputy mandate first," lawyer Shota Gorgadze told Pravda.Ru.

Maksim Bogatykh

Pravda.Ru

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