Parents enraged as schoolchildren injured after being used by Russian riot police in drills

‘They threw me down very hard, turned me over and pushed my head in the snow,’ says one child

The village of Novotroitskoye, deep in provincial Tatarstan, may only have a population of 2,000, but authorities there seem to be taking no chances when it comes to the prospect of opposition protests breaking out.

Local police have elaborated tactical drills for breaking up any possible rallies by using children at the local middle school as protest control fodder.

Footage of the drills, which took place on Friday, shows a line of officers donned in riot gear using shields to push back against the 15-year-olds. Several of the schoolchildren sustained injuries in the exchanges, according to reports carried in opposition media.

“They threw me down very hard, turned me over and pushed my head in the snow,” one of the schoolboys is quoted as saying.

Neither parents nor students were given any warning about the drills.

Teacher and local union boss Raushan Valiullin was the first to publicise the footage after being made aware of it by one of the angry parents, who happened to be a former pupil.

He told The Independent that it was “inconceivable” that the drills went ahead without agreement from the local education ministry.

It was the first time he had come across such a “wild abuse” of Russian schools, Mr Valiullin said. But that did not mean it had not happened before.

“It’s unlikely to have been the only school they tried it on,” he added. “The difference here is that it was captured on a mobile phone. They didn’t count on that.”

The incident was later picked up by Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent opposition politician. His commentary, which accused the Kremlin of being afraid of its own schoolchildren, turned police authorities to panic mode.

Almost immediately, Russia’s National Guard denied having anything to do with the events.

In comments given to Vecherny Kazan, a local newspaper, a representative accused the media of “disseminating information” with the “intentional desire to once again mislead citizens and cast a shadow on the activities of the Russian Guard”.

Eventually, however, authorities were forced to come clean. They had carried out drills with schoolchildren, but they were brought in as “extras ... and all stayed in the background, under the control of teachers”. That explanation did not seem consistent with the recordings.

The local interior ministry said it would be investigating the matter further.