We overhear two police colonels giving the order: 'There is a group of about 50 people going towards the square. Detain them all,' writes Oxana Chelsyeva
This is an edited diary kept by Oxana Chelsyeva, a journalist at the Russian Chechen Information Agency who is also a prominent human rights defender and leading member of the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation to Support Tolerance.
Last year she was awarded the Amnesty International UK media award for "human rights journalism under threat" and spent some time in Dublin to get a break from her activities.
Her diary records what happened when she and a colleague, Stanislav Mikhailovich, travelled to Moscow from Nizhny Novgorod, Russia's fourth largest city, to participate in a demonstration against the power of Russian president Vladimir Putin.
The diary catalogues examples of the sort of harassment Russian officialdom inflicts on its perceived enemies.
Going to Moscow for the March of the Discontented, April 14th
We are taking the midnight train to Moscow. Our carriage is the last one. Some groups of people are shifting from one foot to another at our carriage. Passing them I recognise two familiar faces of the UBOP (a special police department for combating organised crime). There is tension in the air as they watch us while we walk. Their chief, Maxim Bedyrev, rushes up to us, saying: "Stanislav, we would like to talk to you."
"What's the reason? Any warrant?" asks Stanislav.
"No, just let's go aside and have a word," replies the policeman.
"I don't want to," says Stanislav.
We keep wrangling for a few minutes. Never forget to refer the refusal to article 51 of the constitution: We have the right to remain silent. It's clear that if we submit, the train will leave without us.
Bedyrev the policeman squints at us. It is evident that he is furious and trying hard to restrain his feelings.
"Are you so sure that no accident will happen in your flats while you are away?" he asks.
"Absolutely," we say.
"You should not be that sure. What if you have failed to switch off an iron?"
We can't wait any longer - the train is leaving. As we get on, we hear Bedyrev call "Stanislav Mikhailovich, are you aware what will happen if you dare to go to Pushkin Square on Saturday?"
We arrive at Kurskiy station in Moscow at 6am on Friday. As we are getting off the train, three policemen enter our carriage. One of them introduces himself and asks for our documents. We are asked to follow them to the police station.
At the station, the office is full of policemen. One detainee is looking at us through the bars of the cage. Another is sweeping the floor.
When they hear that we work with the Nizhny Novgorod Foundation for Promoting Tolerance, they inquire what we mean by the word "tolerance".
The policemen treat us in a much more polite way after I receive a call from journalists from the Echo of Moscow radio station. I tell them, "Guys, you are in the news".
They are evidently puzzled after our comprehensive explanation of what tolerance is.
11.30am on Saturday
While approaching Pushkin Square, we see huge numbers of Omon [ the internal affairs ministry militia] and military. We overhear two police colonels giving the order: "There is a group of about 50 people going towards the square. Detain them all."
In a few seconds we see this group. It is being led by Garry Kasparov [the former Russian chess grand master and world chess champion turned political activist.] Kasparov has vowed to "restore democracy" to Russia by toppling President Putin, of whom he is an outspoken critic. We join them trying to distribute roses and copies of the Russian constitution.
The Omon blocks our way. We are standing face to face with them.
Kasparov tries to persuade them to let us go on. One of the Omon is making a nasty remark about Kasparov being a traitor.
He calmly responds: "You don't have the right to call me a traitor as when I was your age I was gaining recognition and honour for my country, while you are breaking its main law."
People start to shout out, "Give way!" We are being supported from behind the chain of Omon. It is they who are surrounded by people. People are protruding their hands over the hard-helmeted heads of the Omon.
Then the slogan changes: "Russia without Putin".
Immediately the Omon chiefs give the order to detain people. We try to escape into the open doors of some cafes and shops.
The Omon grab an elderly woman who is clutching a lamp post. She squeals "they are killing me" while three huge men are trying to tear her off the pole.
I see Stanislav being dragged into the bus. He is screaming, "Let me go". Several men are trying to hold him and he is being dragged in different directions. People on the right and on the left of me are disappearing one by one. The bus is crowded with people. Some Omon are taking Kasparov from a cafe. . .
I recognise Andrey Illarionov, a former Putin adviser, now a senior fellow at the Cato Institute in the US.
"What are you going to do?" I ask him.
"We should try to get to Turgenev Square and take people from here."
He is right. The authorised rally is going to start in under an hour in Turgenev Square. Andrey and I get close to the police cordon to find out what is going on in the buses with the detained people.
I see Kasparov's face through the broken window of a bus. Again, we come face to face with the Omon.
A CNN journalist is interviewing Andrey. There are instigators [ agents provocateurs] in the crowd. One of them is screaming, pointing his finger at Andrey.
"What are you waiting for? Kick him with your baton at his head," one says to the Omon.
"Don't beat Russians. Fracture the head of this American vermin. What are you doing here? Aren't you still in Washington?"
Andrey ignores him. An Omon chief shoulders his way through the crowd. He tries to grab Andrey, but the people don't let him.
The protesters set off for Turgenev Square. Banners are unfolded. The red, white and blue banners of the Russian Federation fly over our heads.
People shout: "Russia without Putin!"; "We want an other Russia"; "No to a police state."
There are no obstacles on our way. We approach a Russian Orthodox church where we see people on a belfry. When we come alongside the church, they start ringing the bells, expressing their support. We feel free and cheer up.
Stanislav calls me from a police station. I tell that the march is proceeding. I hear him relaying the news to Kasparov.
On the way to Turgenev Square, the Omon confronts the protesters again.
Andrey is pulling me by a sleeve, telling me "Time to run". We fail and run into the shields of the Omon. Andrey is telling them to let people go on.
"This is our city," he shouts. Pointless. He pulls me out of the crowd just at the moment the Omon begin to detain people.
We run and jump over a fence. Many people escape with us. Hundreds of others keep running towards Sretenskaya Square.
Another Omon cordon. This time they are just chasing people as the column has already been dispersed. We see them dragging people like sacks of flour into their cars. We see them beating people with their batons.
Two Omon try to seize a young man who was marching next to us. Andrey and I run up to them and try to talk them into not detaining him. It is useless. They are hunters and the young boy is their prey.
One of them is threatening us with his baton. Andrey tries to protects me. Suddenly, I feel an acute pain in my ankle. It is not a baton - it is the heavy boot of a policeman kicking my leg. I limp away.
Several hundred protesters manage to get to Turgenev Square. The rally is under way. We have to go through the metal detectors. Policemen are searching Andrey. There are several books in his inside pocket.
"What are they?"
"These are very interesting books. This one is the Constitution of the Russian Federation. The other one is the Criminal Code."
They let us through. Former Russian prime minister Mikhail Kasyanov is behind us. He also had problems getting to here as the Omon tried to detain him. They failed.
Andrey refuses to make speeches, although he has become the de facto leader. Political satirist Viktor Shenderovich is making a speech.
It is difficult to make out how many people have managed to get together here. Not less than 2,000.
It's time for the rally to finish. I go to Presnenskiy police station, where the first detainees have been taken. Stanislav is among them with Kasparov and a range of activists, reporters and ordinary protesters.
There is already a crowd in front of the police station. I see Vladimir Ryzhkov, a member of the State Duma or parliament whose Republican Party of Russia is likely to be liquidated soon.
He tells us that some hundred members of the party participated in the rally. He has just seen the detained people.
There are two lawyers with them: Karinna Moskalenko and Elena Liptzer.
I again meet Andrey. He has also come to support friends. People from the Moscow Helsinki Group and the Demos Centre are here.
The prisoners have been detained for more than three hours now. We try to express our support, shouting out the names of the detainees. The site is surrounded by five-storey apartments. Their residents get out on their balconies and express their support for us.
The chief of the police station comes out with a megaphone. Stanislav appears on the staircase. He shows us the report on his "breach" of the administrative law.
It says: "Was detained while shouting out anti-governmental slogans in a big crowd of people." However, there is no name and no signature of the person who made the ruling.
When I get home, I turn on TV to learn that Putin has spent the weekend in St Petersburg with [ the actor] Jean-Claude Van Damme. Putin in a black shirt, with the radiantly-smiling Van Damme are watching no-holds-barred fighting.
The white marble of Van Damme's teeth look even brighter against the background of Putin's black shirt and pale face.
Front Line, founded in 2001, is an non-governmental organisation based in Blackrock, Dublin. Its mission is to protect human rights defenders at immediate risk and to provide practical means to improve their security. A human rights defender is any individual who works non-violently to promote the rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights