Assistant to State Duma deputy detained at picket in Sochi

This morning, residents of the Lazarevskoe District of Sochi have gathered for a picket against the closure of the pedestrian crossing, which led to the sea coast. According to them, the police violently dispersed the protest action. During the picket, policemen detained Alexei Goryachkin, an assistant to a State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF).

The "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Sochi resident Elena Nikitina that the protest action against the closure of the pedestrian crossing, which had deprived people of the passage to the sea coast, was started at 8 a.m. The protest action was attended by about 100 people.

"However, then policemen arrived together with staff members of the City Mayor's Office, and they started to force people to leave the place," Elena Nikitina has said.

According to the eyewitness, "the policemen began beating people, and many persons went to the hospital to register signs of beating."

At about 10 a.m., Alexei Goryachkin, an assistant to a State Duma deputy, was detained at the place of the protest action. He has told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that the police are drawing up a protocol against him "for resisting the police legal requirements."

Alexei Goryachkin has also added that he had rendered no resistance to the police and that he had not been an organizer of the protest action.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.