Nearly 200 people were arrested by police in Moscow Saturday during an opposition demonstration, which has been demanding for weeks to allow its candidates to participate in local elections in September, reported an NGO. According to the organization OVD-Info, specialized in the follow-up of the arrests, at least 194 people were arrested, including six journalists.
An unauthorized event
Hundreds of people gathered in different parts of central Moscow under a heavy rain, under the watchful eye of a large number of police officers and soldiers of the National Guard, who soon began to make the first arrests, according to AFP journalists.
The protest, which has not been authorized by the authorities, is taking place without a leader since the convictions have multiplied since another protest action last weekend in the Russian capital, which resulted in nearly 1,400 arrests. , the unseen since the return of President Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin in 2012. Last major opponent still at large, Lioubov Sobol, a lawyer of 31 years, was arrested minutes before the start of the event. "The authorities are doing everything they can to try to intimidate the opposition, to make sure that people do not go out into the street to protest peacefully," she said before her arrest. On hunger strike for three weeks, she has so far escaped prison because she has a toddler.
Opposition leaders currently in detention
The main opponent of the Kremlin, anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny, has been serving a 30-day prison sentence since July 24th. Hospitalized last weekend for a "serious allergic reaction" before being sent back to the cell, he took the case for possible "poisoning". Most of his allies and other leaders of the protest have also received short prison sentences, such as several opposition candidates turned back from the local elections in September, such as Italy's Iachine, Ivan Zhdanov and Dmitry Gudkov.
Increasing the pressure a notch before the Saturday demonstration, the justice has charged several people in the context of an investigation for "massive disorders", a heavy charge that raises the threat of penalties of up to fifteen years of jail. Five of them, including lawyers working for civil rights NGOs, were remanded on Friday awaiting trial. The police had repeatedly called on the protest, promising to "react immediately". Moscow's loyal Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin warned the opposition against "new provocation".