Hundreds arrested at Russian anti-corruption demonstrations

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IN an absurd turn, a rubber duck was “arrested” in St. Petersburg after bouncing above the crowds at an anti-corruption demonstration in Russia.

Police confiscated the unlikely protest symbol — which has recently come to represent the anti-Putin movement — as hundreds rallied against the Russian President’s dominance in the country and the corruption of the Russian elite.

Demonstrators are thought to have gathered in scores of Russian cities, in the largest show of discontent in years.

In Moscow people were told they could protest, as long as they did not carry placards or shout slogans. Moscow police had warned that “any provocative actions from the protestors” would be considered a threat to public order and would be “immediately suppressed”.

According to witnesses, more than 100 people were held at the Moscow demonstration, with police using pepper spray on the crowds.

There were also reports of arrests in St Petersburg and a number of Siberian cities.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was also arrested outside his Moscow home on his way to the demonstration in the capital, his wife wrote on social media.

Police later confirmed the arrest, saying he could get up to 15 days in jail on charges of failing to follow police orders and violating public order.

The nationalist blogger turned anticorruption campaigner has quickly risen to become the de facto head of Russia’s antiKremlin opposition, and wants to challenge Vladimir Putin for the presidency next year.

The former lawyer has amassed a large following through social media and internet video, despite often being ignored or been given no-platform by mainstream media channels in the country.

A similar protest spearheaded by Mr Navalny in March drew an estimated 60,000 people to the streets in cities across Russia with more than 1,000 arrested. Navalny was also jailed for 15 days following it.

The focus had been on the alleged corruption linked to the prime minister, Dmitry Medvedev, who had drawn the ire of those protesting elite excess and the privileged lifestyles of Russia’s ruling class

Echoing the expense scandal around UK MP Sir Peter Viggers’s invoice for a floating duck island, Navalny released drone videos of Medvedev’s estates, showing a renovated 18th century manor with pond complete with a duck house, which has lead to the rubber duck symbolism of the protest movement.

Mr Medvedev has attracted widespread criticism for corrupt dealings, being known by his critics as Dimon, a blunt, pejorative version of the name Dmitry.

Mr Navalny switched the location of yesterday’s protest at the last minute to central Tverskaya Street.

Known in Soviet times as Gorky Street, Tverskaya Street is one of Moscow’s main thoroughfares. It was closed off to traffic yesterday for an extensive commemoration of the national holiday Russia Day, including people dressed in historical Russian costumes.

Most of the rallies took place without police permission. Moscow authorities had made a rare concession to the opposition and given Mr Navalny permission to hold the rally on a street close to the city centre.

However, late on Sunday Mr Navalny said every company from which the organisers had tried to rent a stage and sound equipment had told them the mayor’s office had forbidden anyone from lending equipment for the rally. Mr Navalny’s wife, Yulia, said on his Twitter feed that he was arrested outside his home about half an hour before the demonstration was to begin.

A regional security official, Vladimir Chernikov, told Ekho Moskvy radio police would not interfere with demonstrators on the street - as long as they did not carry placards or shout slogans.

Mr Navalny’s website reported that protests were held in more than half a dozen cities in the Far East, including the major Pacific ports of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk and in Siberia’s Barnaul. Photos on the website suggested turnouts of hundreds at the rallies.

Eleven demonstrators were arrested in Vladivostok, according to OVD-Info, a website that monitors political repressions.

Member of Russian-protest group Pussy Riot Nadezhda Tolokonnikova shared a picture on social media of the rubber duck at the St Petersburg protest, saying another member of the group had also been arrested.

A presidential election is due next March, in which Mr Putin is expected to stand and win a new six-year term. Mr Navalny has travelled around the country setting up volunteer headquarters in many cities as part of his bid for the presidency.

It is almost certain that Mr Navalny will not make it on to the ballot, due to fears that his campaigning on anti-corruption issues will create too much “negative noise”. But authorities are split on how to deal with the threat he poses. Some believe if left to its own devices his protest movement will fizzle out, while others think full-blown repression is the only course of action. In April, he suffered damage to one eye after an attacker doused his face with a green antiseptic liquid.