I went to the border city of Narva to watch the Victory Day parade that was being held on the Russian side of the river in Ivangorod to salute the Red Army and sing along to the USSR anthem, bringing my keffiyeh, EFF beret and SACP flag. I had planned to take my flag out to wave it and unroll it in front of the Narva Castle, right beneath the wall of copium as a Red Army banger was playing, but ultimately decided against it because there was far too many cops everywhere. So I went to another castle retaining wall, behind some shrubs in a more secluded area away from the crowds to set up the flag there for a photoshoot and it was a pain enough as it is to keep the black-star SACP flag in frame, let alone keeping it from falling down from the castle wall after I had propped it up with some large sticks I found off the ground. I was eventually successful in getting a good enough shot of me in front of the flag and then packed up to watch the rest of the parade, at least until my bus back to Tallinn.

It was over an hour in after I was done, watching the parade when nearly 20 police officers and rapid response border patrol surrounded me and with 3 police cars, complete with camo, Magpul carrier pouches and Slava Ukraini patches (because of course) and I’m told that I was reported due to the rolled-up red flag in my travel bag - so merely posessing it, not even a public display. I get escorted to the opposite side of a police van, several photos taken and arrested by border security, taken to a police station over 3 kilometers away after the third squad car arrives on scene. Then I get patted down completely and taken in for questioning, with them going through my phone’s camera roll and the items in my pockets. They take photos of some of the political memes and stickers from Palestine rallies, which I used as a bookmark and with one of the officers even stating “oh great, he’s one of those Palestinian supporters too”. They have not yet decided whether or not charged will be filed for “incitement, expressing communistic and pro-Putin/Kremlin sentiments”, with possible hints at left-wing extremism. The arresting officers’ main concern was that I may attract media attention from “adversaries”. No word yet on previous complaints of having the SACP flag on my balcony. Police ended up confiscating the flag. So what I said about “being the first person to be arrested for expressing support for the SACP after the end of Apartheid” turned out to be true after all.

Putin please denazify the BaltiKKKs