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Dozens of people were detained this Saturday during the demonstrations organized in Russia to demand the release of the opposition Alexei Navalny, who is in preventive detention, despite multiple threats from the authorities against the protests.
From Moscow to Novosibirsk, the team of anti-corruption activists called for people to take to the streets in 65 Russian cities to protest against Navalny’s arrest.
The first demonstrations took place in the Russian Far East and Siberia, where several thousand people took to the streets, mainly in Vladivostok, Khabarovsk and Tchita, in front of large numbers of riot police deployed at the protest sites, according to Navalny supporters. . .
In Yakutsk, south of the Polar Circle, protesters faced extreme cold to demonstrate, with -50 degrees Celsius.
Around 125 protesters have already been arrested in 20 Russian cities around 8 am (in Lisbon), according to the non-governmental organization OVD-info, which specializes in monitoring prisons parallel to the demonstrations.
A video posted by OVD-info showed dozens of riot police chasing protesters in Vladivostok.
In Moscow, where opposition mobilization tends to be strongest, protesters are expected to gather at 11:00 a.m. (in Lisbon) in Pushkin Square and then advance down a central street in the capital towards the Kremlin.
The Moscow police have already promised to “suppress without delay” any unauthorized gathering. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin denounced the demonstrations as “unacceptable” amid the novel coronavirus pandemic.
On Instagram, Navalny’s wife Yulia announced her intention to demonstrate in Moscow.
Between Thursday and Friday, Russian authorities detained several Navalny supporters, including the activist’s spokeswoman, Kira Iarmych, who was sentenced to nine days in prison.
Alexei Navalny was arrested on January 17 upon his return to Russia, after five months of convalescence in Germany for poisoning, having been accused of violating judicial control measures (for being on probation, related to another process in Russian justice) when leaving the country. .
Several institutions and countries have already called for the immediate release of the Russian opponent.
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