Russian riot police clashed with demonstrators amid widespread protests after authorities sentenced an activist to jail on charges of inciting ethnic hatred.
The development comes as thousands of protesters rallied in south-central Russia on Wednesday a day after the sentencing of Fayil Alsynov. He is an indigenous rights activist for the local Bashkir ethnic group.
The massive demonstration took place outside of the courthouse located in Baymak, which is a town with a population of roughly 17,000. The area is found some 2,000 kilometers from Moscow near the Kazakh border. The protest was in defiance of police arrest warnings and a ban on unauthorized street gatherings.
Law enforcement personnel made dozens of arrests as security forces fired tear gas and beat protesters with batons. The Bayman demonstration comes two months before the nation's election.
The Baymak protest is seen as an embarrassing development for the Kremlin as Moscow has come down harshly on dissent since it launched its invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The 37-year-old arrested activist gained notoriety for his successful 2020 campaign against limestone mining in Kushtau, as per Politico.
Following intense demonstrations against the planned mine, former Kremlin official and now Gov. Radiy Khabirov banned limestone extraction in the area and declared Kushtau a protected natural area.
However, last year, Alsynov was imprisoned after delivering a speech during a rally to protest illegal gold mining. At the time, he was speaking to a crowd in Bashkir where he lamented that while Bashkirs fought in Ukraine, their lands were being taken back home.
During his remarks, the activist used the term kara halyk, which when translated from Bashkir means "common people" but in Russian translates to "Black people." Khabirov filed a subsequent complaint with a regional prosecutor who then charged the activist with insulting workers from the Caucasus and Central Asia.
Bashkortostan's Ministry of Internal Affairs called the latest protest an "unauthorized rally" and noted that law enforcement personnel have started an investigation over the "mass unrest." Many of the people who gathered outside a public building in Baymak waved the blue, white, and green flag of the Bashkortostan region, according to CNN.
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Sentencing of an Activist
In a video posted on public Telegram channels, protesters who joined the demonstration could be heard chanting "Freedom," Other footage showed demonstrators throwing snowballs at police who were holding riot shields. When police fired tear gas, chants of "shame" could be heard among the protesters.
In a warning to protesters, Bashkortostan's Interior Minister, Rafail Divayev, said that they should come to their senses and not ruin their lives. On the other hand, a local journalist, Arthur Asafyev, said that authorities were trying to make an example of both the demonstrators and Alsynov.
The sentence that was handed down to the activist was tougher than what was requested by the prosecutor handling the case. He noted that officials knew that a harsh sentence would make people angry.
Asafyev added that people in the area were already used to protests regarding environmental issues and had come from miles around the remote region. He said that they did not fear arrest and came to the gathering despite being five hours away, said BBC.
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