(Reuters) – Thousands took to the streets in Russia’s far eastern city of Khabarovsk on Saturday to protest President Vladimir Putin’s handling of the regional political crisis and the suspected poisoning of his most vocal critic.
Protesters chanted “Putin, have some tea,” in the case of opposition politician Alexei Navalny, who fell seriously ill this month after drinking a cup of tea in an airport cafe.
Navalny, 44, was airlifted to Germany last week after crashing on a flight from the Siberian city of Tomsk to Moscow. He is now in a medically induced coma at a hospital in Berlin. [nL8N2FT2PE]
About 110 km east of Moscow. (8,800 miles) Residents of Khabarovsk have denied the murder charges and began holding weekly rallies following the July 9 detention of the region’s popular governor, Sergei Furgal. [nL5N2ER37S]
His supporters say the detention is politically motivated. At the rally, they put up posters condemning “repression” and “dictatorship” and demanding that Ferguson be released and allowed to return to the city.
Some have also expressed solidarity with opponents of Belarusian leader and longtime Putin ally Alexander Lukashenko, who has been protesting for weeks over allegations of suffrage in the presidential election.
Reporting by Olzas ye Yuzov in Almaty; Edited by Clarence Fernandez
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