Washington Post, June 11, 2020

How the clearing of Lafayette Square made the White House look a bit more like the Kremlin

Auszug:

In Russia, restrictions on protests near presidential residences, including the Kremlin, were included in a 2004 law under President Vladimir Putin, who appeared determined to prevent a repeat of major protests that occurred there during the early 1990s.
 

When anti-Putin protests spread across the country after strongly disputed legislative elections in 2011, access to areas around the Kremlin was temporarily cut off entirely.
 

The protest-free zone around the Kremlin was soon replicated elsewhere, with regional administrations declaring more public spaces off limits. Some activists were put on show trials to stymie opposition and harsher punishments were introduced.
 

Researcher Jan Matti Dollbaum said there are still significant differences between Russia at the time and the United States today — including institutions that continue to uphold the rule of law in the U.S. But he cautioned that — just as in Russia — erecting physical barriers around seats of power could act to suppress political dissent.