Viral clip of Russian policeman punching female protester stirs anger

By Andrew Osborn

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Video of a Russian police officer punching a young woman in the belly has stirred anger among many Russians who believe the authorities have used excessive pressure to disperse weeks of political demonstrations in Moscow.

The clip, filmed on Saturday and later on circulated online by Russian celebrities with millions of followers, shows as soon as two helmeted riot policemen drag the girl, Daria Sosnovskaya, to a waiting police bus.

Sosnovskaya, 26, sometimes appears struggling to break free and trying to trip up one of the cops who responds by punching her found in the stomach, prompting among the reporters filming the incident to sarcastically call up the policeman "a hero".

The statistician was one of over 200 persons detained in central Moscow on Saturday when planning on taking part in what authorities said was an unlawful protest following a sanctioned demonstration to demand free elections in the location legislature.

The authorized the main protest was attended by round 60,000 people, the Light Counter monitoring group said, so that it is the biggest event of its kind in eight years as an extremely emboldened anti-Kremlin opposition activity challenges President Vladimir Putin's tight hold on power.

Well-known singer Egor Krid shared the clip of the arrest along with his 10.7 million followers on Instagram, as does Sergey Lazarev, another well-known singer, with over 4 million followers. The clip garnered more than 3 million views subsequently.

In an expletive-laden content Krid said he previously filed a complaint with the police asking them to get and punish the authorities officer involved.

"What sort of a scumbag do you need to be to hit a member of the fairer sex," he wrote. "I don't care what she did. This sort of thing just shouldn't happen."

Lazarev called the police officer's behavior a good "disgrace" and several Russians took to social mass media to condemn the incident working with strong language.

Russian authorities have rejected accusations they have utilized extreme force to disperse such protests, that have now been going in for five weeks, although the United States and europe have questioned their use of force.

Moscow's police force declined to comment by mobile, but the Interfax news firm said it had released an interior investigation into the incident.

Sosnovskaya, who had earlier attended the sanctioned demonstration, said she was detained after complaining to law enforcement about their arrest of a guy who appeared to have problems with some sort of a disability.

She's since filed a complaint about the way in which in which she was detained.

In a reflection of the anger the clip generated, Pavel Chikov, a human rights lawyer, had offered an incentive of 100,000 rubles ($1,500) to anyone who could identify the authorities officer who was simply wearing a face mask and a helmet at that time.

One Russian online outlet after said it had identified him and published his brand and picture even while declining to take Chikov's money. Moscow law enforcement said the officer recognized had not been mixed up in incident.

Some Russians hurt by police at the protests would like redress through the courts.

Activists say they are planning to hold another protest on Aug. 17.

(Additonal reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Alison Williams)
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