On the November 17th every year, in Moscow, the anti-fascist martial arts tournament “Don’t Give Up!” is traditionally held. This tournament is held every year in memory of Ivan Khutorskoi, a legendary Antifascist organiser better known under his nickname ‘Bonecrusher’, who was killed by Neo-Nazis ten years ago.
During the tournament this year, Russian services appeared on the spot – both the FSB (Federal Security Service) and the police were in attendance and detained participants of the tournament – at least 80 people. The cops wanted to know if any antifascist members took part in mass riots in Moscow this summer. The Russian capital saw tens of thousands of people taking to the streets, after authorities banned a number of candidates from running in a local election over violations during registration process. The detainees were taken to three police stations – Sokol, Choroszewski and the airport in groups of 25, another 10 people were taken to the police station in the Voykovsky region, they had to show passport details and fingerprints. During the detention, the officers used force against one of the tournament participants. They threatened those arrested to take them to the forest, among the detained were 5 minors, whose parents the police did not inform about the arrest and transport to the police station.
A police station in Sokol distributed questionnaires to detainees, asking them for their address, eye colour, body build, place of work, extra curricular activities, citizenship and other personal data. All were forced to be photographed. In the Choroszewski department, detainees received detention reports – they were allegedly checked for “participation in previously committed crimes”. At 9 pm all detained adult participants of the tournament were released from police stations and parents took the minors.
We stand in solidarity with all those arrested and those fighting Russian repression at all times. The fight against fascism continues, and we must remember that now is not a time to be complacent and to use this time grow and build our movement.