Creative community protest - Russian Style

Fed up with those VIP convoys with flashing blue lights that expect everyone to get out of their way and sometimes behave in an arrogantly authoritarian manner when people don't move out of the way quickly enough? Here's an idea from Russia The Network: CREATIVE COMMUNITY PROTEST - Russian Style:

Fed up with the blaring sirens used by government officials to get to their destinations faster than the ordinary Muscovite, a group of frustrated drivers, organized by Alexei Dozorov, is fighting back.

Using toy buckets on the tops of their cars to look like sirens, the protesters assemble in a Moscow parking lot and get their instructions from Dozorov.

Obey the traffic rules, he tells them so the police wont have a reason to pull over the drivers. Make sure your drivers license and papers are in order, and know the driving rules, he advises.

In case he is stopped Dozorov has a copy of a court decision erasing a traffic fine for a driver having a blue bucket on top of the car.

It's incidents like these that make such protests necessary: News - Crime & Courts: Cop in court for assault:

Colleagues of a traffic officer charged with assaulting a Cato Ridge woman for failing to get out of his way on the freeway tried to bar the media from photographing him yesterday.

Edward Xolani Mtshali's first court appearance was brief and his case was adjourned to May 14, so that his legal team could obtain statements.

Eyewitness News: Family slam blue-light convoy killer:

The family of a Johannesburg man who was killed when a blue-light VIP convoy ploughed into his car say the police officer responsible for his death should have received a harsher sentence.

Twenty-year-old Kyle Harris was hit by a vehicle in South African Reserve Bank convoy at a West Rand intersection two years ago.

Police officer Johannes Ramalope was found guilty of culpable homicide and was given a two-year sentence suspended for five years in the Roodepoort Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday.

Legalbrief - 'Blue light' VIP case delayed to next year:

The 'Blue light' VIP escort case, in which two Pietermaritzburg policemen are charged with six counts of culpable homicide, has been adjourned to 21 January.

The Times reports that Hlanganani Nxumalo and Caiphas Ndlela have appeared in the Pietermaritzburg Regional Court. Nxumalo, who allegedly fired at a vehicle which then crashed on the N3 highway near Pietermaritzburg, is also charged with the negligent discharging of a firearm, while Ndlela is also charged with reckless and negligent driving. Attorneys John Wills and Mohamed Essa told Magistrate Chris van Vuuren that Ndlela wanted to brief an advocate to defend him.