Hundreds protest in Moscow against reforms that can keep Putin in power

MOSCOW (Reuters) – Dozens of people were arrested Wednesday in a protest in Moscow against constitutional reforms that give President Vladimir Putin the option of remaining in power for another 16 years, witnesses and a monitoring group said.

About 500 protesters, many of whom wore masks marked with the word “no,” chanted calls for Putin to step down and raised banners against the reforms.

Police surrounded them and began making arrests in the late afternoon after participants started a march down one of the city’s main boulevards, with riot officers gathering the protesters and placing them in vans.

More than 100 people were detained, according to the rights monitoring group OVD-info. There was no immediate confirmation by the police or the government of the number of arrests.

A vote earlier this month amended Russia’s constitution, giving Putin the right to run for two more presidential terms, an outcome the Kremlin described as a triumph.

Opposition activists say the vote was illegitimate and that it is time for Putin, who has ruled Russia for more than two decades as president or prime minister, to resign.

“I came here to sign the petition against constitutional reforms because I am a nationalist,” said a 40-year-old man in a black shirt as protesters chanted “Putin is a thief.”

Fourteen-year-old Vasilisa said she also signed the petition because Putin “is to blame for poverty in our country.”

“Homosexual people are killed here, women are beaten here and no one is responsible,” he said.

Two Russian activists involved in the campaign against constitutional reforms were arrested last week and the homes of five others were searched, before the scheduled protest, which had not been sanctioned by the authorities.

Mass gatherings are prohibited in the capital due to COVID-19 restrictions. Even in normal times, protests by more than one person require the prior consent of the authorities.