5,000 held af ter rallies over Putin
Calls to free Navalny grow
MORE than 5,000 protesters were arrested yesterday as Russians demanded the release of opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Vladimir Putin’s government has been rattled by the nationwide protests, which mark the country’s most widespread show of discontent in years.
After tens of thousands rallied the previous weekend, Russian authorities threatened jail terms and made prominent shows of riot police.
But the threats were ignored and a similar number took to the streets yesterday, braving baton charges, tasers and handcuffs. Crowds chanted the name of Mr Navalny, 44, Mr Putin’s most well-known critic.
He was arrested on January 17 on his return from Germany, where he spent five months recovering from being poisoned with the nerve agent novichok – an attack he blames on the Kremlin. He was arrested for allegedly violating parole conditions for previous alleged crimes.
In Moscow, authorities introduced unprecedented security measures, closing underground stations, cutting bus traffic and closing shops.
The main protest was held at the city’s Lubyanka Square, home to the Federal Security Service which Mr Navalny accuses of poisoning him.
Crowds chanted ‘Putin, resign!’ and ‘Putin, thief!’, a reference to an opulent Black Sea estate apparently built for him. Opponents allege public funds are ‘stolen’ in a corrupt system where Putin hands state contracts to billionaire friends, who in return have built him a palace.
Some later marched to the Matrosskaya Tishina prison where Mr Navalny is being held. Officers bundled protesters into vans, and social media was full of videos of people being hit with police batons.
More than 1,000 were detained in Moscow, including Mr Navalny’s wife Yulia, who said on Instagram: ‘If we keep silent, they will come after any of us tomorrow.’ Novosibirsk in eastern Siberia saw one of the biggest rallies, with several thousand marching across the city, and thousands also marched in St Petersburg, where 800 were arrested.
The US urged Russia to release Mr Navalny and criticised the crackdown on protests. Secretary of State Antony Blinken condemned ‘the persistent use of harsh tactics’.
Police detained more than 5,000 in cities across Russia’s 11 time zones, according to independent monitors.
Last week, a Moscow court rejected Mr Navalny’s bid to be released. Another next week could turn his three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence for apparent money-laundering into one he must serve in prison.
‘Persistent use of harsh tactics’