What Happened In Moscow Today?
I woke up this morning and deliberately stayed at home to watch Navalny’s funeral, as logic told me something serious would happen.
The day started how I would have expected, with hundreds of police lined up ready to arrest those who showed the wrong attitude or laid flowers.
Putin’s parents lost both their first two sons because of illness and WW2. A friend of mine also lost two older brothers and his mother was so overprotective, that it seriously affected his mental health. Later in life, he retrained as a psychotherapist to excise his personal demons.
Putin also has the problem, that his father was a member of an NKVD destruction battalion (think Katyn!), so I suspect he had a good line in bedtime stories for his son.
I wonder if something unexpected happened today.
- Did the sight of Navalny’s mother and her grief, awaken Putin’s memories of his own mother and he backed off?
- Or did the police on the ground, take a words will never hurt us attitude to the crowd? It might have helped, that a proportion of the police probably held some of the same views as Navalny.
I have some further thoughts.
The Grosvenor Square Protests Against the Vietnam War
I can find two references to these in this Wikipedia entry, which is entitled List Of Protests Against The Vietnam War.
- July 3, 1966. A crowd of over 4,000 demonstrate outside of the U.S. Embassy in London. Scuffles break out between the protesters and police, and at least 31 people are arrested.
- March 17, 1968. In London, a violent protest not supported by the Old Left leads to over 300 arrests.
A policeman friend of mine, who was on duty, told me that trouble is defused, if the police have common ground with the demonstrators.
The Number Arrested Today In Moscow
This was given as six, which is consistent with the number arrested at non-violent protests in London against the war in Gaza.
My Experience Of Moscow Police
In September 2001, I went to Moscow to see Ipswich beat Torpedo 2-1. See More…
After the match, the police were looking at the Ipswich supporters, as if they wanted a fight. So I broke ranks and offered both hands to the guy, who looked to be in charge. He shook my hands, gave me a hug and a smile and everybody walked to the coaches.
Nobody wanted a fight, so one didn’t happen.
My Experience Of Minsk Police
In October 2008, I went to Minsk to see England beat Belarus 3-1. See More…
A lot of the England fans were worried after being badly treated by Moscow police, the year before.
But there was no need to worry, as the Belarus Police were dressed to be friends and there was no trouble.
Conclusion
Whatever happened today could be significant!
The Anonymous Widower 