On Sunday, July 16 several protest actions happened in St.Petersburg which led to a big number of arrests.

In the morning around 30 people who are involved in the Network Against G8 (NAG8) blockaded the entrance of a hotel on Nevskij Prospekt which is used by participants of the G8 summit in St. Petersburg. They blockaded the street for a while (fotos), carried banners, distributing leaflets against the policy of G8.

The action had international character as anarchists and anticapitalists from different European cities like St. Petersburg, Moscow, Minsk, Chishinau, Warsaw, Kiev, Cardiff and Berlin took part. Police arrested accredited journalists before actually turning to the activists doing the blockade (report | video 1 | 2). An AP camera person was arrested but later released, a German photographer was brutalised by OMON riot police but could avoid arrest. Maxim Butkevich, a Ukrainian journalist, remains in custody. Activists call for urgent support as there are between 31 and 36 arrested and lawyers are prevented from entering police station no.28, some report abusive treatment. Some of the arrested were taken to the court of Kujbyshevsky district later. Of this group some were sentenced to two or three days of custody, others will have their hearings in the next days [de].

12 other people were arrested during an anti-war picket and taken to police station no.79, 11 of them were released the same day. Six belorussian activists were arrested and physically abused by police for organising a press conference.

Later in the day a Pink-Silver-Clown action was done on the Vassilievsky Island with approx. 100 participants; 30 mostly Russian activists were arrested.

A demonstration to show international solidarity took place in Berlin on Sunday, in Kiev a banner saying '8 Leaders don't equal 8.8 billion people' was hung from a bridge (video) and a protest action happened at the Russian embassy on monday (photos), activists in Strasbourg and London have announced demonstrations against the current arrests for next week.

While the G8 summit prooves yet one more time to be a major display of repression, the fifth edition of the People's Forum started today in Gao, Mali, as a counterweight to the G8 summit in St Petersburg to discuss poverty reduction, migration and hunger relief.