Russian MFA on US reaction to Occupy protests

The American authorities’ actions against Occupy movement protesters are unjustifiably brutal, stated the Russian Foreign Ministry’s human rights commissioner Konstantin Dolgov on 14 February 2012.

“Regarding the reaction of the American authorities, we can point to the presence of elements of … disproportionate use of force,” Dolgov said. According to rights activists, over 6,000 protesters in 110 American cities have been detained since the beginning of the Occupy Wall Street campaign last autumn, the Russian diplomat observed.

This fact cannot but bemuse, since the American government has always urged the need to observe human rights – including freedom of speech and demonstrations – in other countries, Dolgov said. “Through the [Occupy] campaign, American citizens exercise their democratic right for freedom of expression, and freedom of meetings and associations, which are guaranteed by fundamental international agreements,” Dolgov stated.