Riot police fired tear gas, flash grenades and used batons to disperse demonstrators in Russia’s Bashkortostan region after a local activist was sentenced on Wednesday to four years in prison.
Videos showed supporters of Fail Alsynov clashing with police near the court where he had been convicted of inciting ethnic hatred, according to Russian state media outlet RIA Novosti.
Bashkortostan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs called the demonstrations an “unauthorized rally” and said police have begun investigating “mass unrest,” in a post on Telegram.
Some 20 people have been detained by police, according to OVD-Info, an independent Russian protest monitoring group. CNN cannot independently verify this number, but Russia has routinely carried out mass arrests at protests.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered outside a public building in the remote town of Baymak, with some waving the blue, white and green flag of Bashkortostan region, which neighbors Kazakhstan.
Credit: cnn.com
