I see a crowd of cops running in helmets and body armor, like they came for a war, knocking people down at speed.” Over the weekend, security forces carried out at least three raids in different cities. How should you behave during a police roundup?

“I see a crowd of cops running in helmets and body armor, like they came for a war, knocking people down at speed.” Over the weekend, security forces carried out at least three raids in different cities. How should you behave during a police roundup?

Over the weekend, at the closed punk festival Day x Night in Leningrad Region, police detained about 100 people. They allegedly sang “songs in support of Ukraine and regime change” in Russia. In addition, participants whom the security forces called “left-wing radicals” were allegedly found with “posters bearing Ukrainian symbols” and drugs. This was reported by 78.ru.

One of the festival participants told Mediazona the details of the raid.

They put me in the center where everyone was lying. Most of the force was used in the first minutes: one acquaintance was asked about the organizers, he said he didn’t know, and they kicked him in the stomach and threatened to take him behind a tent. I heard that someone split another person’s lip.

They wanted to find some terrifying extremist terrorists, but all they found were ordinary people at a campsite. There were no political flags or symbols, [as pro-government media reported].

“We understand you’re normal dudes, musicians, but we have orders,” and then they started asking questions like, “So what, do you have orgies at festivals?” That’s how far they are from understanding what we do.

After questioning people and filming their documents, participants began to be released, according to Mediazona. At the same time, some of them had money taken from them.

Unfortunately, such raids are not rare: just over the past weekend, similar roundups also took place in Petrozavodsk and Moscow.

🔗 Can you prepare for a raid? And how can you avoid harming yourself in the process? The answers are in the cards. And you can read the full guide here.

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