Anti-putin protests: 1,600 including oppn leader held
MOSCOW : Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and more than 1,600 anti-kremlin activists were detained by police on Saturday during street protests against Vladimir Putin ahead of his inauguration for a fourth term as president.
Navalny had called for demonstrations in more than 90 towns and cities across Russia against what he says is Putin's autocratic, tsar-like rule. “We will force the authorities, made up of swindlers and thieves, to take into account the millions of citizens who did not vote for Putin,” Navalny said beforehand.
Putin overwhelmingly won re-election in March, extending his grip over Russia for six more years - a tenure of 24 years that would make him Moscow's longest-serving leader since Soviet dictator Josef Stalin.
Navalny,whowasbarredfrom running in the election on what he says was a false pretext, was detained soon after showing up on Moscow's Pushkin Square, where young people chanted “Russia without Putin!” and “Down with the Tsar!”.
Video showed five policemen hauling him to a van by his arms and legs, a scene that was repeated dozens of times with his supporters. Moscow police said he had been detained for organising an unsanctioned rally.