Moscow has seen a sudden upsurge in private security guard activity, reports GDF.
(GDF/IFEX) – On 16 November 2009, Yabloko Party leader Sergey Mitrokhin and a crew of REN-TV reporters were detained by security guards in the vicinity of the Skhodnya River Park, in the Moscow district of Kurkino, while examining the landscape after the construction of cottages in a conservation area. According to Grani.ru, Mitrokhin called the district police chief who ordered the guards to release the detainees and let them walk around the township freely and use their video cameras.
On the following day, a group of Rossiya Channel reporters were attacked by security guards at Preobrazhensky market. Alexander Karpov, a correspondent for the Vesti news programme, told the RIA Novosti news agency that they had shot some sequences of people selling and buying food in the sales area. They asked the market manager for an interview when orders came “to kick the reporters the hell out”. The guards began to push the journalists towards the exit but finally cracked down on them full weight, attempting to tear away the video camera. In the process, Karpov received a punch in the face. A group of police officers arrived soon afterwards. They detained the attackers and drove them to the district police station.
In an interview with the Ekho Moskvy radio station, Preobrazhensky market deputy director Sergey Artamoshin described the incident as a provocation: “We told them they were not allowed to take pictures inside the market and we showed them the door – and here you go, such a scandal!”
To the police’s credit, they were quick to investigate both incidents and take appropriate response measures – something they do not always do in these kinds of situations, GDF noted.
