Russian opposition leader Navalny held
MOSCOW: Authorities detained Russian opposition politician Alexei Navalny and hundreds of his supporters on Monday, as they mounted demonstrations across the nation against government corruption.
The protests are the second mass action since March 26 called by Navalny, who has announced his intention to run for president next year and has drawn a new generation to the streets through a relentless online campaign.
Over 200 were detained in Moscow and Saint Petersburg an hour into the protest, according to an NGO that tracks arrests, with Navalny himself picked up by police in his building as he was headed to the event.
On central Moscow’s Tverskaya Street, a helicopter hovered overhead as riot police lined up and pushed back against the crowd, grabbing people and leading them to police vans as others shouted “Shame!”, “Putin is a thief!” and “Freedom to Navalny!”
The action also drew thousands to the streets in many other cities across Russia, with authorities sanctioning some gatherings and banning others. Some reports said authorities threatened university students with expulsion if they attended.
The 41-year-old Navalny’s anti-corruption videos have needled the country’s most powerful and drawn to the streets crowds unseen since a wave of protests against President Vladimir Putin’s reelection to a third term in 2012.
The recent rallies were galvanised by a film released by Navalny in early March which accused Russia’s Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev of controling vast personal wealth through a shadowy network of foundations, which has since been viewed over 22 million times.
“Putin has been in power for 17 years and is not planning to leave. He has usurped all power,” said protester Alexander Tyurin, 41.