Russia’s Navalny detained as protesters point to poll fraud threat

MOSCOW, (Reuters) - Russian police wrestled opposition leader Alexei Navalny into a patrol wagon yesterday moments after he appeared at a rally to urge voters to boycott what he said would be a rigged presidential election in March.

Navalny has little chance of influencing the election, likely to be won comfortably by President Vladimir Putin, but his ability to use social media to mobilise crowds of mostly young protesters in major cities has irked the Kremlin.

The numbers attending Sunday’s protests across Russia — some shouting “Putin is a thief” — appeared lower than previous demonstrations staged by Navalny, Reuters reporters said, suggesting momentum may have shifted away from him. Video footage posted on social media showed Navalny appear on Moscow’s main thoroughfare, Tverskaya Street, a few hundred metres from the Kremlin, to join several hundred supporters taking part in the protest, which the authorities had said was illegal.

He had only walked a short distance when he was surrounded by police officers wearing helmets. They grabbed him and forced him to the ground on the pavement, and then dragged him feet first into the patrol wagon, the video footage showed.

He was held at a police precinct in central Moscow for several hours before being released without charges, his lawyer Olga Mikhailova told Reuters, adding that Navalny would face court at a later date.

If charged with violating laws on holding demonstrations, Navalny could face up to 30 days in prison.

Navalny emerged as a threat to the Kremlin’s tight grip on power on June 12 last year, when thousands of his followers defied police prohibitions to protest in cities across Russia.