MOSCOW, Russia, April 26, 2002 (ENS) - Anti-nuclear activists and journalists documenting their protest were roughed up by police Thursday on Red Square in front of the Kremlin. More than 20 activists from Moscow, Kaliningrad, Voronezh, Vladimir, Yekaterinburg, Ryazan, Orel, and Ozersk were arrested.

Journalist videos protesters in white jumpsuits crawling across Red Square. (Photos by Alisa Nikulina and Vlad Tupikin courtesy Socio-Ecological Union)

Activists from 30 Russian cities gathered in the center of Moscow to protest the government's intention to import nuclear waste to Russia and against nuclear energy development in general. Journalists from international media outlets came to cover the action on the Red Square, which was considered a bold venture, as it is one of the most heavily guarded places in Russia.

Dressed in white jumpsuits marked with a radiation danger sign, activists crawled across Red Square up to the Kremlin gates. Vladimir Slivyak of Ecodefense says this action "symbolized bringing of the nuclear waste right to the Kremlin, where the chief decision maker sits."

The action had been in progress for about 10 minutes, when police came and without issuing warnings or requests to leave, started beating people, activists said. One woman demonstrator was slammed with her head against bars of the metal fence.

Slivyak was thrown down and stamped by police boots and so was Nadezhda Kutepova of the environmental group in Ozyorsk, the location of the Mayak nuclear waste reprocessing plant, Russia's only such facility.

Police grab a photographer in Red Square

Many tourists walking around the Red Square observed the police action. Police searched the nearby streets for activists and journalists who escaped from Red Square. Police arrested journalists from several newspapers and from the Russian nonprofit news agency Internews.

"After the action the square was covered by the light-struck films," said one witness.

Police wrestle a photographer to the ground to confiscate his camera while tourists look on.

Police have released all the demonstrators they arrested. According to Slivyak, 23 protesters appeared in court today and Thursday, and two more will appear in court at a later unspecified date.

All those who came to court were charged with "participation in a not permitted action" under administrative, rather than criminal law. The judge found all the demonstrators guilty and handed down a "warning" to everybody, the lightest action the court could take. According to administrative law, for participating in a not permitted action, people can get a warning, or a fine of up to $500, or up to 15 days in jail.

The arrests in Red Square did not stop the protesters. Today there was an anti-nuclear rally in Moscow organized by a coalition of groups.

The demonstrators are protesting a plan sponsored by the Russian Ministry of Atomic Power (Minatom) to import spent nuclear fuel to Russia. It was approved by both the Russian parliament and President Vladimir Putin in 2001, and Russian law was changed to permit such imports.

A plan sponsored by the Russian Ministry of Atomic Power (Minatom) to import spent nuclear fuel to Russia was approved by both the Russian parliament and President Vladimir Putin in 2001, and Russian law was changed to permit such imports.

Earlier this month, Minatom chief Alexander Rumyantsev confirmed to a meeting that included some of the same activists who demonstrated Thursday in Red Square that a contract to import spent nuclear fuel from British research reactors would be signed next year.

Russian environmentalists say their country cannot even handle its own nuclear waste safely, and until problems with Russian waste are solved, waste from anywhere else should not be imported.