Riots in Russia - Government raising tariffs on imported automobiles

Riots in Russia

Small demonstrations occurred in several Russian cities over the weekend in reaction to the government’s plan to raise tariffs on imported automobiles, and the riot police broke up one protest on Sunday in Vladivostok in the country’s far east, briefly detaining scores of people, news agencies reported.
While the demonstrations each drew only a few hundred people, they were perhaps the most visible evidence of discontent with the government over the financial crisis. When the price of oil was high and Russia’s economy was soaring, the government was broadly popular, but the recent downturn has caused growing public anxiety as unemployment has spiked and the value of the ruble has dropped.
In an apparent sign of the Kremlin’s concern over the tariff issue, it sent special riot police units to quell the protest in Vladivostok, according to witnesses quoted by news agencies. Other demonstrations over the tariffs have occurred there this month.
Amateur video posted online by people who said they were at Sunday’s demonstration in Vladivostok shows riot police officers dragging protesters into vans. The authorities said they broke up the demonstration because its sponsors had not received official permission to hold it.
A reporter for The Associated Press in Vladivostok said that police officers had beaten several people with truncheons, thrown them to the ground and kicked them. Several journalists were arrested.
Vladimir Litvinov, who leads a local rights group, told The Associated Press that officers behaved “like beasts” and should not have ended the gathering because it was peaceful and not political.
“We support a civilized resolution to all the problems, but when they send Moscow riot police to break up a gathering in our city, and they start breaking arms and legs and heads,” he said, adding: “People are very, very angry. It’s hard to predict what might happen now.”
Vladivostok, Russia’s largest port on the Pacific, is a major point for importing foreign cars into Russia. The government announced the tariffs on imported cars in an effort to protect the beleaguered domestic car industry.
The Federation of Russian Car Owners, a grass-roots advocacy group, has helped sponsor the protests, under the slogan, “Authorities: Raise the Standard of Living, not the Tariff.”