Hundreds detained as anti-Putin protests take place across Russia
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Putin
Moscow, June 12, 2017 (dpa/NAN) Protests against the longtime leadership of Russian President Vladimir Putin were held in more than a hundred cities and towns across the country on Monday, the patriotic Russia Day holiday.
The rallies were organised by supporters of protest leader Alexei Navalny, who was detained at his home in Moscow before he could join thousands of demonstrators in the centre of the Russian capital.
Navalny has sought to challenge Putin in next year’s presidential election, but he appears unlikely to be allowed on the ballot because of a controversial past conviction on corruption charges.
More than 200 people were detained at the Moscow rally, according to police estimates.
The reports said that as many as a thousand being detained in Moscow and in St Petersburg, the country’s second-largest city.
It said that protesters were detained in dozens of other cities, from far-eastern Vladivostok to western-most Kaliningrad.
A meeting in the central Russian city of Kazan was allowed to take place for only a few hours, starting at 7a.m.
Several hundred people showed up on time, local media reported.
The Moscow protest occurred in the same location as a festival for the Russia Day holiday, which celebrates the transformation of Soviet Russia into today’s country.
Moscow authorities said that about 200,000 people attended the festival on a central thoroughfare, Tverskaya Street, which leads to the Kremlin.
Navalny’s team had told protesters not to wear clothing promoting his cause, complicating estimates of the exact number of protesters.
Moscow authorities had given Navalny the opportunity to hold the demonstration in an authorised area relatively nearby in the city centre, but Navalny’s team insisted on Tverskaya.
Navalny’s team said they decided to relocate because the approved event site was inadequate. Moscow city officials described the change to the unauthorised location as a provocation.
Navalny, who was detained at a similar protest in March, faces charges of repeatedly organising unsanctioned public gatherings.
Police formed several cordons at the Moscow rally to disperse the crowd, detaining protesters who resisted.
The crowd of thousands chanted slogans such as “Russia without Putin and “Putin is a thief” as they made their way down Tverskaya.
Navalny’s team had earlier said they expected between 45,000 to 50,000 people to attend the Moscow demonstration.
Previous demonstrations organised by Navalny had taken aim at Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, who has been accused of using his post to unlawfully amass a fortune.
However, many protesters in Moscow on Monday said they were there to show their dissatisfaction with Putin.
“Only about half are Navalny supporters,” 20 year-old student Timur said while describing the people at the march.
Several protesters expressed uncertainty about whether Navalny would have the competence to lead a new government.
The Kremlin had warned there would be consequences to any unlawful assembly, prompting fears of a showdown between police and protesters in the Russian capital.
In March, Navalny was detained on charges of holding an unauthorized public event.
That protest, with about 7,000 people according to police estimates, was Moscow’s largest in several years. (dpa/NAN)
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Edited Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Felix Ajide