Скачать или смотреть Protest outside EU mission in support of man detained in Estonia

(4 May 2007)
1. Protesters walking towards EU mission
2. Line of police outside EU mission
3. Protest speaker
5. Cutaway of cameramen and protesters
6. Protesters ringing bells
7. Protesters holding flags and posters
8. SOUNDBITE (Russian) Vasily Yakemenko, leader of Nashi youth movement:
"If our action do not have results in two weeks we will put a big bell here. It will ring for Marc every fifteen minutes. It will go on a year, two, five and it will ring night and day as long as Mark (Mark Siryk) is in prison. Let them remember - they (EU diplomats) are sitting here while he is in prison. They will be reminded of him every 15 minutes".
9. Pan of protesters signing letters
10. Protester writing letter
11. EU officer taking photo
12. Protesters dropping letters in bag
13. Wide of protesters and flags
STORYLINE:
Hundreds of students marched to the European Union's representative office in Moscow on Friday in the latest protest by pro-Kremlin youth groups over Estonia's relocation of a monument to Soviet soldiers in the Baltic nation's capital.
Demonstrators criticised the Estonian authorities over the removal of the Bronze Soldier monument from a central Tallinn square and what they say was the arrest and continued detention of a high school student.
The student, Mark Siryk, was arrested amid clashes in Tallinn last week between police and protesters.
Protesters rang small bells to draw attention to Siryk's imprisonment.
"Let them remember - they are sitting here while he is in prison," said Vasily Yakemenko, the leader of the Nashi (Ours) youth movement, said referring to the officials in the EU's office.
"If our action do not have results in two weeks we will put a big bell here. It will ring for Mark every fifteen minutes. It will go on a year, two, five and it will ring night and day as long as Mark is in prison," Yakemenko added.
The protesters handed an official at the European Commission delegation headquarters letters they wrote protesting the Estonian authorities' actions.
Russians regard the monument as a tribute to the millions of Soviet soldiers who died fighting the Nazis.
Russia views itself as a liberator of nations such as Estonia that had been occupied by German forces, but for many Estonians it is a bitter reminder of five decades of oppressive post-war Soviet rule.
Deeply divergent interpretations of history have kept Russian-Estonian relations tense since the nation gained independence in the 1991 Soviet collapse.
Friday's demonstration came a day after Nashi (Ours) and other activist groups - some with close ties to Russia's leadership ended a days-long protest outside the Estonian Embassy in Moscow.
They claimed "victory" after the Estonian ambassador left Russia for what Estonian authorities said was a planned vacation.
The embassy protest had interfered with the embassy's operation, and aggressive actions by protesters drew criticism from the European Union, NATO and the United States, straining already frayed relations between Moscow and the West.
Russia has long accused the EU of failing to respond adequately to what it says is widespread discrimination against Russian-speaking minorities in Estonia and neighbouring Latvia.
The relocation of the monument and the police conduct during the protests in Tallinn have prompted a fresh wave of criticism.

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