USA TODAY US Edition

Russia cracks down amid big protests on holiday

Government cracks down; opposition leader arrested

- Anna Arutunyan Bacon reported from McLean, Va.

Thousands of protesters took to the streets Monday in Moscow and other cities for a wave of anti-corruption demonstrat­ions on Russia Day, a national holiday. Police arrested protest leader and presidenti­al hopeful Alexei Navalny an hour before the march after he changed the previously approved gathering place. Below, police officers detain a protester in central Moscow.

Thousands of anti-corruption demonstrat­ors took to the streets Monday in Moscow and other Russian cities on Russia Day for the biggest wave of protests in five years. Police arrested protest leader and presidenti­al hopeful Alexei Navalny an hour before the march here began after he changed the previously approved gathering place.

“Hello, this is Yulia Navalnaya,” his wife tweeted from Navalny’s account. “Happy holidays. Alexei has been detained in the entrance to his home. He said to pass on that plans haven’t changed: Tverskaya.”

Authoritie­s initially had allowed 15,000 demonstrat­ors to hold a rally on Sakharov Avenue. But late Sunday night, Navalny wrote on his blog that refusals by authoritie­s to allow sound equipment and pressure on businessme­n hired by Navalny’s supporters to provide sound equipment forced him to move the venue to Tverskaya Street, which was blocked off for festivitie­s for Russia Day.

The Russian government called the change a “provocatio­n” and vowed a crackdown on violators who turned up for what in effect was an unsanction­ed protest.

More than 1,000 people were arrested across Russia, the Associated Press reported. Navalny, 41, was taken to court Monday evening and was sentenced to 30 days in jail shortly after midnight for repeated violations of the law on public gatherings.

Demonstrat­ors earlier chanted “Free Navalny” and “Navalny for president” as riot police used batons to push crowds away from metal detectors and toward the Kremlin. Police were seen snatching protesters out of the crowd at random and dragging them to police trucks nearby.

“They let me through the metal detectors for the public holiday (on Tverskaya) but they took away my placard,” said Alexander Vereshchag­in, 17, a Navalny supporter who showed up for the demonstrat­ion despite threats of a crackdown.

“I don’t see a future for the country,” said his friend, Artyom Ionov, 16. “I will be starting college and I don’t even know what (profession) to choose. There is nothing on the horizon.”

Alexander Tyurin, 41, another protester, told AFP that Russian President Vladimir Putin, after 17 years in charge, “has usurped all power. ... I work in a constructi­on company, and everything is mired in corruption.”

Monday’s protests in more than 160 cities came after Navalny and his supporters held similar rallies in March calling on authoritie­s to investigat­e allegation­s of corruption against Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev.

The first protests were sparked by a film made in March by Na- valny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation that alleged Medvedev amassed personal property worth millions. Police arrested more than 1,000 protesters during the March 26 demonstrat­ions.

The demonstrat­ion Monday was part of the biggest protest wave since 2011, when Russians took to the streets voicing anger at a rigged election and Putin’s return for a third term.

This spring, however, the focus of protests has been less about Putin and more about specific issues like corruption and has spread to other regions. Thousands turned up for demonstrat­ions from Kaliningra­d in the west to Vladivosto­k in the east.

“In 2011, Navalny was holding protests that were more about revolution,” said Sergei Chubenko, who protested Monday on Tverskaya Street. “Now it’s about demanding specific changes.”

Demonstrat­ions this spring also included long-haul truckers protesting a state-imposed road tax and Muscovites opposing city plans to demolish 4,500 Sovietera apartments and replace them with high-rises.

“These protests have a specific aim — defying the corruption of the authoritie­s. This defiance is uniting everyone who is not getting a piece of the (corrupt) action,” Alexei Tsvetkov, a left-wing activist, wrote in a Facebook post before heading to the protests Monday. “This defiance is becoming a national idea at this point, regardless of one’s specific views.”

An April poll by the Levada Center showed that 38% of respondent­s approved of those who took part in the March 26 anticorrup­tion protests. Navalny’s recognitio­n has grown from 6% in 2011 to 55%, with 10% saying they would vote for him.

In Moscow and elsewhere in the country, young people and those still in school accounted for a significan­t portion of Navalny’s growing base through the use of social media. “Among young people, dissatisfa­ction and defiance is growing.” Lev Gudkov, head of the Levada Center, said in an April interview published on the polling center’s website.

The protests on Tverskaya Street saw a large number of teenagers, some overheard on their cellphones telling their parents they were OK. Demonstrat­ors mixed with Muscovites who had turned out for a Russia Day re-enactment festival that had Tverskaya blocked off. Participan­ts — many dressed in historical costume — watched tensely as riot police tried to corral protesters between the tents.

Russia’s government has responded differentl­y to the new wave of protests than in the past by making it more difficult for Navalny to hold protests.

Navalny has been pressing a bid to oppose Putin in next year’s presidenti­al election. Navalny has been opening campaign offices and collecting signatures required to be placed on the ballot.

Putin has not announced his intentions for 2018, but it is widely assumed he will seek re-election.

 ?? YURI KOCHETKOV, EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY ??
YURI KOCHETKOV, EUROPEAN PRESSPHOTO AGENCY
 ?? DMITRI LOVETSKY, AP ?? People gather for an anti-corruption rally in St.Petersburg, Russia, on Monday. More than 200 people were arrested there.
DMITRI LOVETSKY, AP People gather for an anti-corruption rally in St.Petersburg, Russia, on Monday. More than 200 people were arrested there.

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