Soviets Detain Glasnost Publisher

The publisher of the independent Soviet magazine Glasnost was detained by police on Sunday when he and half a dozen other people attempted to demonstrate in central Moscow, eyewitnesses said.

They said Sergei Grigoryants was bundled into a police van when he refused to leave the site of the demonstration, outside the offices of the Novosti Press Agency, and a large contingent of police and plainclothes men blocked the protest.

The demonstrators had gathered to protest official press coverage of Soviet emigration policy.

Western television crews said police ordered them to leave the premises of Novosti, which also houses the Foreign Ministry press center, and accused them of acting as provocateurs.

“They rubbed snow on the lens of our camera,” said Peter Arnett of Cable News Network. “They said the street was off limits today and we were provocateurs because we could provoke the wrath of the average Soviet citizen.”