Moscow protests carry on
Russian police carry away a man Saturday during a Moscow protest against the exclusion of City Council candidates from a coming election. Saturday’s rally was officially sanctioned, and fewer arrests were reported than in previous weeks, when police detained thousands of demonstrators.
MOSCOW — Tens of thousands of people rallied Saturday against the exclusion of some City Council candidates from Moscow’s upcoming election, turning out for one of the Russian capital’s biggest political protests in years.
After the rally, which was officially sanctioned, hundreds of participants streamed to an area near the presidential administration building to continue with an unauthorized demonstration. They were confronted by phalanxes of riot police and the arrest-monitoring group OVD-Info said 136 people were detained.
The rally was the fourth-consecutive weekend demonstration in Moscow over the election. The opposition has prompted protests in other cities, reflecting widespread frustration with Russia’s tightly controlled politics.
The protest attracted some 50,000 people, said Beliy Schetchik, an organization that counts public meeting attendance.
OVD-Info also said 86 people were arrested Saturday in St. Petersburg at an unsanctioned demonstration in support of the Moscow protests.
Unlike the previous Moscow rallies, where police harshly dispersed the crowds and detained thousands of demonstrators, Saturday’s gathering in a neighborhood with relatively few passers-by was officially sanctioned.
Lyubov Sobol, one of the council candidates denied a place on the ballot and a spearhead of the election protest, was among those detained Saturday in Moscow.