Protesters fill streets, critic jailed
MOSCOW: Baton- wielding riot police broke up anti-corruption protests and detained hundreds of demonstrators in Moscow and other Russian cities yesterday, before a court sentenced opposition leader Alexei Navalny to his second prison term this year.
The protests, called by Navalny, a strong critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, drew thousands of people and were some of the biggest in Russia since 2012.
“Russia without Putin” and “Russia will be free” chanted the demonstrators, including many young people, who crowded into central Moscow on a public holiday.
Navalny, who is mounting a long-shot bid to unseat Putin in an election next year, had called for mass protests in Moscow and other cities against official corruption.
The Kremlin has dismissed Navalny’s graft allegations, accusing him of irresponsibly trying to whip up unrest.
The scale of yesterday’s protests in Moscow – and smaller ones in St Petersburg and scores of other cities – suggests Navalny has maintained his campaign’s momentum despite more than 1 000 people being arrested after the last such protest in March.
That is likely to embolden him to call for more protests and keep Putin, who is expected to run for and win re-election next year, under rare domestic pressure.
Navalny’s wife, Yulia, said her husband was detained as he tried to leave their home.
Electricity in his office was also cut at around the same time as he was detained, briefly bringing down a live feed of the protests, Navalny’s spokesperson said.
At a midnight court hearing, a Russian judge later found Navalny guilty of repeatedly violating the law on organising public meetings and sentenced him to 30 days in prison. Navalny served a 15day jail term after the protest in March.
Authorities in Moscow said yesterday’s protests were illegal and drafted in riot police, who fired pepper spray and used batons to break it up, detaining people and bundling them onto buses.
Navalny, who also had a green liquid thrown in his face in April, robbing him of some of his sight, said hundreds of people had also attended demonstrations in Russia’s Far East yesterday morning.
“I want changes,” wrote Navalny in a blog post last week. “I want to live in a modern democratic state and I want our taxes to be converted into roads, schools and hospitals, not into yachts, palaces and vineyards.” – Reuters