Three of the participants of a "small action," a breakaway from the main body of protesters in support of the starving SR Oleg Shein, are detained in Astrakhan, RIA Novosti reports.On Saturday, supporters of the former candidate for mayor Astrakhan Shein staged a rally in the Brotherly Garden park, next to the Astrakhan Kremlin. The action was not coordinated with the authorities, as it was held in the framework of a meeting of the population with State Duma deputies who had arrived from Moscow. According to the regional Interior Ministry, 300 to 350 people took part in the action. The organizers claim there were several times more people.
Some of the protesters, a few dozen people, broke away from the bulk of the opposition and headed towards Kirov park (which originally was supposed to hold a mass rally in support of Shein), and then changed the route and tried to break through to the building of City Hall. On Chernyshevsky Street they were stopped by the police.
The participants staged an impromptu rally in front of the cordon, set up a tent and several times tried to break through the cordon. Police detained three of the most active and removed the tent.
Other participants of the "small meeting" left this place and went to the Lenin Square, where the bulk of the protesters had moved from the Brotherly Garden.
The police is trying not to interfere with what is happening; there were no more arrests.
A former candidate for mayor of Astrakhan, Oleg Shein, and his supporters have been starving from March 16 in protest against the unfair, in their opinion, counting of votes in the mayoral election on March 4. According to the Central Election Committee, United Russia representative Mikhail Stolyarov won the election, who collecting 60% of the vote. Shein was second, receiving just under 30%.
