Hundreds of anti-putin protesters arrested
HUNDREDS of Russian anti-corruption protesters were arrested yesterday in the biggest crackdown since President Vladimir Putin came to power.
Russian media reported that more than 1,600 people were arrested during rallies that swept the country, and saw protesters chanting “Russia without Putin” and “Russia will be free”.
Alexei Navalny, the charismatic opposition leader, was detained as he left his Moscow home for the rally. A court later sentenced Mr Navalny to 30 days in prison for repeatedly violating the law on organising public meetings. It was the second time he had been sentenced to a prison term this year.
The police crackdown was concentrated in Moscow and St Petersburg but detentions also took place at protests across Russia’s 11 time zones.
The number of arrests was on course to surpass those in March during a first outbreak of nationwide anti-corruption protests called by Mr Navalny.
The Kremlin is struggling to respond to a wave of anger that has been channeled by Mr Navalny as he seeks to bolster his attempt to run for president in 2018 elections. Many of the protesters are young people who have grown up during Putin’s 17 years of ruling Russia.
“Corruption is everywhere,” said student Artyom Mikhalin, 21, who was attending the protest in central Moscow with a large Russian flag. “It’s the hypocrisy of the authorities who say one thing and do another.”
Reports of detentions came from more than 100 cities. Police held 11 people in the far eastern city of Vladivostok, 10 people in the Siberian city of Norilsk, while 36 people were arrested in the western exclave of Kaliningrad, according to OVD-INFO, a Russian NGO that tracks political arrests.
The demonstrations coincided with a public holiday, Russia Day, on which Mr Putin handed out awards at a reception in the Kremlin.
‘It’s the hypocrisy of the authorities who say one thing and do another’