Kasparov lashes out over police action

Russian opposition leader Garry Kasparov lambasted Russian authorities today over violent crackdowns at anti-Kremlin demonstrations last weekend, accusing police who beat and detained protesters of “brutality and cruelty”.

Kasparov, a vocal critic of President Vladimir Putin, met with prosecutors he said had summoned him in connection with an MP’s demand for an inquiry into whether police acted illegally when they detained the former world chess champion during a Moscow protest on April 14.