MOSCOW – Russians on Saturday jailed opposition leader Alexei A. in more than 100 cities. There was a rally in support of Navalny, the largest protest in the country since at least 2017.
It was a wave of anger that started from port cities on the Pacific and continued through the streets of Siberia, passing through 11 time zones of the country. The largest protest, which drew more than 10,000 people, was in the capital, Moscow, where police officers in riot gear, wearing body armor and shiny black helmets, tried to clear the crowd.
More than 3,000 people have been detained across the country, an activist group said. Many of those who joined the protest, who were unauthorized, appeared unmoved by the threat of jail time, as they threatened President Vladimir V. Shouted slogans against Putin.
But opposition does not seem likely to force the Kremlin to change course. The state news media denounced him as a “wave of aggression” and law enforcement officials vowed to take legal action against anyone who attacked the police.
The question is whether there will be more protests – and whether more Russians frustrated by Mr. Putin’s two decades of stable income and official corruption – will join Mr. Navalny’s movement. By Saturday evening, his supporters were promising to hold more rallies next week.
“If Putin thinks he has the most terrible things behind him, he is very sad and mistaken,” said Leonid Volkov, Mr Navalny’s top aide.
Above, storm police detained a man in Pushkin Square in central Moscow. These protesters seemed more shameless than in previous years. Below, protesters hold banners reading, “Don’t be afraid. Don’t be silent under the statue of Alexander Pushkin, Russia’s greatest poet, and “one for all and for all.”
The riot police repeatedly charged the mob, beating them with sticks. In Moscow alone, more than 1,200 people were detained, according to the OVD-Information Activist Group, which counts arrests.
Some took refuge in nearby cafes, shops and subway stops. Most arbitrarily, most letting go police officers took some people into custody.
However some protesters did not dare to confront the police. When officers charged, some people fought back by throwing back bags.
The protest call went viral on social media, especially on Ticket OK, a short video app that is popular with children and teens. But opponents represented a cross-section of the pay generations.
Authorities shut down most of the mobile internet connectivity around the protests, but images of arrests and confrontations between protesters and police officers were still widely seen.
As has been the case in past protests, the state’s show of force was overwhelming. Polls show Mr Putin’s approval ratings are in the doldrums, and the Kremlin takes no chances.
