Watch: Navalny supporters protest across Russia despite hundreds arrested
Tens of thousands of people took part in demonstrations that swept across Russia late on Wednesday in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny.
Many people were apprehended before protests even began, including two top Navalny associates in the Russian capital. The Russian human rights monitoring project OVD-info said it had counted 1,004 arrests across the country by the time the St. Petersburg demonstration ended at 8:30pm CET, and 1,495 by 11pm.
Allies of the imprisoned Russian opposition leader had called for rallies in around 100 cities across Russia on Wednesday.
The demonstrations began at 7pm local time in each city, moving west across the country, and were arranged to coincide on the same day as Russian President Vladimir Putin’s annual address.
The protests in Russia’s two largest cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, began under heavy police presence shortly after UN experts said Navalny should be evacuated for urgent medical treatment abroad.
Navalny’s organization called for the Moscow protesters to assemble on Manezh Square, just outside the Kremlin, but police blocked it off.
Instead, the itinerary was changed to include Tverskaya Street, which is the main road leading up to the Kremlin, the State Duma and the Bolshoi Theater, all the way to the FSB’s headquarters, Navalny’s team said on Twitter.
Footage released by news agencies showed thousands of protesters marching through central Moscow. Russia’s Interior Ministry said 6,000 people were participating in Moscow and 4,500 in St. Petersburg, while observers put the figure in Moscow in the tens of thousands.
Police in Russia’s fourth-largest city, Yekaterinburg, estimated the protest size at 5,000 people while Navalny’s local office estimated the crowd size at 13,000 to 14,000.
“This is real Russia – free and without fear!” Navalny’s team tweeted along with pictures of streets crowded with protesters in the capital.
In St. Petersburg, police blocked off Palace Square, the vast space outside the Hermitage Museum, and protesters instead crowded along nearby Nevsky Prospekt.
Footage posted on social media showed a young female protester in St. Petersburg brutally taken away by riot police. Another posted by the Navalny campaign showed a man in St. Petersburg being tasered repeatedly during his arrest.
In Vladivostok, several hundred protesters marched peacefully under police surveillance, chanting “freedom for political prisoners”.
There were no comprehensive reports of turnout throughout the country and it was unclear if the rallies would match the size and intensity of protests held in January after Navalny was arrested.
