Moscow, Aug. 1 -- The young woman screamed as her boyfriend lay atop her, absorbing the blows of a helmeted riot policeman.

It's one of the indelible images of the violent police response to an unauthorized protest in Moscow.

Inga Kudracheva's terror and anguish are clear in the video and photos that spread across Russian social media and foreign news coverage of the July 27 crackdown in which an arrest-monitoring group said nearly 1,400 people were detained.

Yet Kudracheva and Boris Kantorovich say the ordeal has only strengthened them.

"People are not afraid of police anymore. Even though police were beating us violently and tried to intimidate us, it was worth it," the 27-year-old told The Associated Press on Tuesday, sitting on a ...