Thousands demand Putin quit at protests

RUSSIAN police violently broke up a rally in Saint Petersburg as thousands took to the streets across Russia on Saturday on President Vladimir Putin’s 65th birthday, urging him to quit power.

Heeding the call of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny to demand competitive elections, around 3,000 people rallied in Russia’s second city and Putin’s hometown while more than a thousand demonstrated in the centre of Moscow, AFP reporters said. Protests were held in around 80 cities throughout the country.

More than 270 people were detained nationwide, more than 60 of them in Saint Petersburg, according to OVD-Info, a group that monitors politically motivated arrests.

But while police in rainy Moscow showed restraint, allowing the crowd of mostly young protesters to march in the city centre in an apparent effort to avoid clashes on Putin’s birthday, the rally in Saint Petersburg ended in violence.

Activists chanted “Shame” as helmeted police threw some protesters into police vans, injuring several demonstrators and forcing some to run for cover, an AFP reporter and witnesses said.

Photographs from the scene showed a woman clutching her bleeding head after being de- tained by officers at the unauthorised protest.

Amnesty International called on Russian authorities to immediately release the protesters and investigate instances of violence.

“The Kremlin’s intent is clear – to choke the life out of the protest movement,” said Denis Krivosheev, Amnesty’s deputy director for Europe and Central Asia. “Peaceful protest is a right, and many people in Russia want to exercise that right. The Russian authorities must immediately begin to respect and protect the rights of these protesters, pure and simple.”

The protests – called by Navalny after he was sent to jail for 20 days this week – were markedly smaller than the rallies he mustered in March and June when tens of thousands took to the streets against corruption.

The number of people detained across Russia on Saturday is lower than the arrests during the rallies called by Navalny in March and June. Police detained more than 1,000 people in Moscow alone during the March demonstration.

Putin, who has ruled since 1999, turned 65 – the retirement age for Russian officials – and many protesters urged him to step down.

He said last week he has not yet decided whether to seek another six-year term. But he is widely expected to run in – and win – the March election.