Police [sic] Break Up Russian Protests

BBC ^ | 21 Dec 2008 | anonymous

[docbnj]

Russian riot police have forcibly broken up a rally being held in the eastern city of Vladivostok. About 500 people had gathered in the city's central square to demonstrate against a new tax on imported cars. Witnesses said police officers kicked protesters, damaged journalists' equipment and made dozens of arrests. Vladivostok, one of several cities holding protests, depends heavily on car imports from Japan and critics say the tax could push prices up by 50%. The tax is intended to help prop up Russia's domestic car industry and prevent people buying cheaper, imported products.

[docbnj]

There is a film included. These are not just police, as the BBC calls them, but are clearly marked with the black-and-gray tiger-striped camos and the Cyrillic letters OMOH (which in Latin script would be OMON, standing for Otryad Militsii Osobogo Naznacheniya. They are a special internal security force, part of the old MVD, which is used for suppression of dissent and attacking non-Russian minorities in the old USSR. There is a film attached to this story, so you can see them in action.

Apparently a 50% tax on imported cars is Putin's idea of a bailout for the Russian car industry, whose products are more expensive and less durable than the Japanese imports favored by many consumers.

The OMOH men are well trained thugs. This is a chance to see them in action.

[driftdiver]

“Apparently a 50% tax on imported cars is Putin’s idea of a bailout for the Russian car industry, whose products are more expensive and less durable than the Japanese imports favored by many consumers.”

hmmm wonder if Obama will do the same.

[omega4179]

Ironically America is propping up its shoddy domestic car industry also.

[randomhero97]

Ironically America is propping up its shoddy domestic car industry also.

Yep, we have the union thugs instead of the OMON.

[Frantzie]

Well at least Putin was born in Russia. I doubt Americans can be bothered to put down the remote or watch college sports or the NFl before we lose our country. The Russians protesting have a lot more guts.

[Ax]

Some years ago, a State Department friend of mine had been stationed in Moscow. He was there when the USSR fell apart, and the US decided to open a Consulate in Vladivostok. He was one of the first westerners ever to see that city. He described it to me as being worse than any third world city he'd ever seen, and we were stationed together in Havana at the time. He said there were open sewers running alongside the streets there and general poverty and squalor all around.

He flew back to Moscow from Vladivostok on Aeroflot (a death-defying act if ever there was one), and on the way back, stopped to refuel at Omsk, in Siberia. Omsk claimed to be an "International Airport." Mike, who spoke Russian, asked one of the employees where he could find the mens room, he was shown the door. The lavatories at Omsk International Airport were outhouses.

[RightWhale]

Could be the Russian version of Smoot-Halley, however that is spelled. That was the ruinous tax on imports instituted in 1930 just in time to drive a recession into the Great Depression.

[omega4179]

also this:
Russia:levs a tariff on undesired imports to make them less competitive.

USA: Pints money and gives it to shoddily run companies, hands IOU to American workers that their grandchildren will be paying off.

[tvdog12345]

Russia must be a lot more prosperous than it used to be, if there are 500 people in Vladivostok that can afford to buy Japanese cars. (Or do the Japanese charge the Russians less than they do us?)

[blam]

GM has a thriving business in Russia. The favorite vehicle for successful females in Moscow is the Hummer.

Moscow has more millionaires and billionaires than any other city on earth.

[blam]

"Could be the Russian version of Smoot-Halley, however that is spelled. That was the ruinous tax on imports instituted in 1930 just in time to drive a recession into the Great Depression."

Yup. The Chinese have similar ideas:

China Pursuing a 'Beggar Thy Neighbor' Policy Amidst Financial Crisis

[stefanbatory]

Obama’s new domestic security force? as well funded as the military and all that jazz?

[omega4179]

Just for this topic:

[omega4179]

Most of them through stealing foreign aid or other mafia activities.

[brushcop]

There is a film attached to this story, so you can see them in action.

Looks like they are snatching ring leaders from the protestors, which means they had their eyes on them awhile and I'm sure informants. Pretty mild "protest" and pretty heavy-handed "disbanding" going on there.

[tetuhe1898]

Russia must be a lot more prosperous than it used to be, if there are 500 people in Vladivostok that can afford to buy Japanese cars. (Or do the Japanese charge the Russians less than they do us?)

New taxation is applied to 5 year old foreign cars only. Over 90 per cent of car owners in Vladivostok have chosen used Japanese cars that are less expensive than new domestic cars, and way more reliable and comfortable.