Thousands protest against Putin across Russia as leader arrested
● Opposition head faces jail for ‘failing to obey police orders’
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny was arrested outside his Moscow home as thousands of anti-government activists challenging President Vladimir Putin’s rule protested across the country.
Mr Navalny’s wife, Yulia, said on his Twitter feed that he was arrested about half an hour before the main demonstration in Moscow was to begin. 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.
Although city authorities had agreed to a location for the Moscow protest, Mr Navalny called for it to be moved to Tverskaya Street, one of the city’s main thoroughfares. He said contractors hired to build a stage at the agreed long upon venue could not do their work after apparently coming under official pressure.
Tverskaya, known in Soviet times as Gorky Street, was closed off to traffic on Monday for an extensive commemoration of the national holiday Russia Day, including people dressed in historical Russian costumes.
Moscow police blocked part of the street with trucks in a bid to block the movement of protesters. In St Petersburg, Russia’s second-largest city, Russian media reported at least 150 arrests and there were reports of up to 100 in the capital Moscow.
After the change, Moscow police warned that “any provocative actions from the protesters’ side will be considered a threat to public order and will be immediately suppressed”.
The protesters, some carrying Russian flags, were chanting loudly as Moscow riot police stood watch.
A regional security official, Vladimir Chernikov, told Ekho Moskvy radio that police would not interfere with demonstrators on the street – as as they did not carry placards or shout slogans.
More than 1,000 protesters were arrested at a similar rally on 26 March. The protests in March took place in scores of cities across the country, the largest show of discontent in years and a challenge to Mr Putin’s dominance.
The Kremlin has long sought to cast the opposition as a phenomenon of a privileged, Westernised urban elite out of touch with people in Russia’s far-flung regions. But yesterday’s protests could demoncited strate it has significant support throughout the country.
Mr Navalny’s website reported yesterday that protests were held in more than a half-dozen cities in the Far East, including the major Pacific ports of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk and in Siberia’s Barnaul.
Eleven demonstrators were arrested in Vladivostok, according to OVD-INFO, a website that monitors political repressions.
Alexei Borsenko, a Vladivostok demonstrator who eluded a police attempt to detain him, Iceland’s prime minister stepping down in the fallout from the “Panama Papers” scandal, while “our prime minister is caught on such big corruption cases and he doesn’t go anywhere”.
“This is very strange,” Mr Borsenko added. “It’s a dead end for the country’s development.”
Mr Navalny has become the most prominent figure in an opposition that has been troubled by factional disputes. He focuses on corruption issues and has attracted a wide following through savvy use of internet video. His report on alleged corruption connected to prime minister Dmitry Medvedev was the focus of the March protests. But the popular anger has spread beyond Medvedev, with many of yesterday’s demonstrators chanting: “Putin is a thief.”
Mr Navalny has announced his candidacy for the presidential election in 2018. He was jailed for 15 days after the March protests. In April, he suffered damage to one eye after an attacker doused his face with a green antiseptic liquid.