From the Boston Globe, headlined: Russian riot police break up protest against the Kremlin
Police clubbed protesters and dragged them into waiting buses yesterday in response to a defiant demonstration against the Kremlin in the heart of President Vladimir Putin’s hometown.
Several thousand members of liberal and leftist groups chanted “Shame!” as they marched down St. Petersburg’s main avenue to protest what they said was Russia’s rollback from democracy. The demonstration, called the March of Those Who Disagree, was a rare gathering of the country’s often fractious opposition.
It was at least the third time police have moved in to break up an anti-Kremlin protest in recent months.
“They said,” there has been a rollback from democracy? How come that rates a “they said”? There wasn’t a “they said” for the phrase, “fractious opposition.” There wasn’t a “they said” for the word “defiant.” So how come “rollback from democracy” gets that tag? Does Putin deny that he’s rolling back democracy?