Moscow (AFP)

Communists and supporters of the Russian liberal opposition are calling for demonstrations on Saturday in Moscow, another episode of a major protest movement that has been stirring the capital for a month after the exclusion of independent candidates in the September 8 local elections.

Begun mid-July, this wave of demonstrations was firmly repressed by the police, who made a total of nearly 3,000 arrests. The leaders of the protest were imprisoned, including the main opponent of the Kremlin, anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny.

Criminal cases have also been opened against at least 14 people accused of involvement in "mass unrest" or "violence against the police". With profiles of students, programmer, director or political activists, they incur up to ten years in prison.

Last Saturday, an authorized demonstration had already gathered up to 60.00 people on Sakharov Avenue in the center of Moscow, the never seen since the protests against the return of Vladimir Putin to the Kremlin in 2012. More than 250 people were then arrested during a peaceful march deemed illegal.

Communists, usually regarded as opponents "tolerated" by the Kremlin, join this time fully in the challenge: even if their candidates were allowed to participate in the polls Muscovite September 8 - because their party is represented in Parliament Russian - they will meet on Saturday on Sakharov Avenue for "honest and clean elections" at an authorized meeting.

- Bribery charges -

The protest movement began after the rejection, officially for formal flaws, of the registration of about 60 independent candidates for election to the Moscow Parliament. In charge of validating the huge budget of the capital, this body is currently composed of loyal pro-Kremlin mayor Sergei Sobyanin.

A prominent figure in the movement, Lioubov Sobol, Alexei Navalny's ally, published a video on Thursday accusing the president of the Moscow parliament of owning a luxury apartment far from his declared income.

"That's why they care so much about their seats," she accused on Twitter. The day before, the 31-year-old lawyer announced the end of a four-week hunger strike to protest her ousting of the poll.

Navalny's organization, the Anti-Corruption Fund, also accused Moscow's mayor in charge of the elections of embezzling billions of rubles of public money in the management of the city's housing stock. the municipality. The Fund is now being investigated by the courts for "money laundering".

- "nuisance for pedestrians" -

After asking to meet again on Sakharov Avenue on Saturday and to organize a march in the center of Moscow, the liberal opposition this time was denied by the authorities.

"The authorization is refused because it may constitute + hindrance for pedestrians +," said on Facebook one of the organizers, the journalist and MP Ilia Azar. In response, he called on everyone to protest alone by holding protest posters in several parts of the city.

This technique is often used by protesters in Russia to express themselves without having to obtain permission from the authorities. They can do this as long as they respect a distance of 50 meters between each protesters, as required by law.

Speaking for the first time about this protest movement, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied this week a "political crisis" and defended the firmness of the police, accused of violence against the protesters.

The images of a young woman violently hit in the stomach by a police officer for no apparent reason were particularly indignant, to the point that the Ministry of Interior announced the opening of an internal investigation.

The elections of the Moscow Parliament, which will be held in parallel with other regional and local elections in the country, will be difficult for the candidates of power, in a context of social discontent and economic stagnation.

© 2019 AFP