MOSCOW. Feb 1 (Interfax) - Police had to detain so many people during the January 31 protests across Russia because quite a lot of "hooligans and instigators" were taking part in them, Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov said.
Journalists pointed out during a conference call on Monday that a record large number of people were detained in one day amid demonstrations on Sunday and asked Peskov whether the Kremlin was prepared to listen to the protesters.
"We're talking about unlawful events. Naturally, police take measures against participants in those unlawful events," Peskov said.
"There were quite a lot of hooligans and instigators behaving more or less aggressively toward law enforcement officials, which is unacceptable. Therefore, it's only natural for police to act and take measures," Peskov said.
There can be no dialogue with hooligans and instigators, and "they must be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law," he said.
"As for other people, I can repeat once again that a whole set of instruments is available to them to express their viewpoint lawfully, and any unlawful actions for these purposes are unacceptable," he said.