Russian police arrest nearly 800 people during opposition crackdown in Moscow

Shortly after the start of the demonstration, a Reuters journalist saw several hundred people gather at one of the designated demonstration points in central Moscow.

MOSCOW:

Russian police arrested on Saturday in Moscow more than 800 people who were taking part in a demonstration to hold free elections, including prominent activist Lyubov Sobol, after the authorities warned that the demonstration was illegal.

Police pulled Sobol out of a taxi and took her to a van a few minutes before the start of what anti-Kremlin activists described as a peaceful march to protest the exclusion of their candidates from next month's elections.

Shortly after the start of the demonstration, a Reuters journalist saw several hundred people gather at one of the designated demonstration points in central Moscow. A few minutes later, a riot police line started forcing people out of the area.

OVD-Info, an independent monitoring group, said police arrested 828 people, sometimes hitting them with truncheons lying on the ground. Reuters reporters have witnessed dozens of arrests. In one case, the police took a man who grabbed his bike.

The police said they had arrested 600 people and brought together 1,500 people who had attended the demonstration, although images of the demonstrations that broke out in different parts of Moscow suggest that many more people had taken part in the demonstration.

Saturday's demonstration was less than a week ago, but it highlighted the determination of some critics of the Kremlin - especially the younger ones - to continue to press for the opening of the tightly choreographed political system to Russia.

The anger of the demonstrators is centered on the ban on a number of candidates, some of whom are allies of imprisoned opposition politician Alexei Navalny, from participating in the September elections to the Moscow city legislature.

This vote, although local, is seen as a dry race for a national parliamentary election in 2021.

The authorities claim that the opposition candidates failed to collect sufficient authentic signatures to register. Excluded candidates say it's a lie and insist on entering a contest they think they can win.

"They (the authorities) are wiping our feet on our feet," said Elena, a student who was taking part in Saturday's demonstration.

Yevgeny Snetkov, a 61-year-old engineer, described the way the authorities prevented opposition candidates from running as bold. "I had no choice but to protest," he said.

Some protesters chanted "Putin is a thief" as they walked.

International condemnation

Observers stated that the presence of the police was one of the most important at such a demonstration for nearly a decade. Mobile Internet Access has been cut off in some areas and police have cordoned off areas in central Moscow to prevent rallies.

In a similar demonstration a week earlier, police had arrested more than 1,300 people in one of the largest security operations in recent years, which were widely condemned by the international community.

The authorities carried out a new wave of detentions and house searches before Saturday's demonstration and opened criminal proceedings for what they call mass civil unrest, an offence punishable by up to 15 years in prison.

Activists say the Russian constitution allows them to demonstrate freely. However, the authorities indicated that they had to agree on the time and place of any demonstration, which was not done before Saturday's demonstration.

Opposition activists said the authorities had repeatedly refused to allow demonstrations in central Moscow, leaving them no choice but to move forward anyway.

At least eight of Sobol's allies, including Navalny, are in jail for violating strict protest laws. The ruling party, United Russia, dominates the national parliament, and Navalny and his allies are deprived of media time.

Russian investigators announced on Saturday that they had opened a criminal investigation into the alleged laundering of one billion rubles (15.3 million dollars) by an anti-corruption foundation created by Navalny. Navalny and his allies say the foundation is financed transparently by public donations.

President Vladimir Putin and the Kremlin did not comment on the opposition, but Moscow prosecutors warned Friday potential protesters that Saturday's demonstration had not been approved and that its organizers could be brought to justice.

With more than 60% of the total, Putin's approval rate is still high compared to many other world leaders, but it is lower than it was due to discontent with falling incomes over the years.