Thousands protest across Russian Federation as opposition leader detained

Moscow braced for a day of unauthorized protests on Monday after prominent opposition leader Alexei Navalny changed the location of an anti-corruption demonstration despite police warnings.

Demonstrations were being held or planned in more than 200 cities and towns to protest what Navalny says is a system of corruption and cronyism that President Vladimir Putin presides over.

The OVD-Info rights group told AFP that more than 1,500 of his supporters had been arrested during the protests across the country, including 823 in Moscow where riot police tried to push the crowds back, sometimes by beating them with batons.

A court in Moscow has yet to pass a ruling on opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who faces charges of disobeying police orders and calling for an unsanctioned protest.

A protestor being led away by the police on Monday summed it up.

“The Russian people deserve a government that supports an open marketplace of ideas, transparent and accountable governance, equal treatment under the law and the ability to exercise their rights without fear of retribution”, Spicer added.

Some activists made quacking sounds or held up plastic ducks, which have become a symbol of the anti-corruption rallies since a Navalny expose early this year alleged the prime minister had built a house for the waterfowl at one of his estates.

Organizers in more than 200 cities across Russian Federation had filed requests to hold demonstrations Monday, trying to revive a popular opposition that had been somnolent since a violent crackdown in 2011 and 2012.

Police say Navalny was detained for breaking laws regarding public meetings and obeying authorities, the Interfax news agency reports.

Mr. Navalny supporters were demonstrating across Russian Federation, with several arrested as police warned organisers against holding an unauthorised rally in Moscow. Some 3.8 million people have participated in around 3,000 events across the country, police reported. He was later sentenced to 30 days in jail.

Police arrested Navalny outside his apartment for spurring protesters to gather on unapproved streets in central Moscow for the demonstration, The Washington Post reported.

A wave of anti-government protests swept across Russian Federation on Monday, starting in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok and rolling west, across half-a-dozen time zones. Many of those who attended last time were young people, including some school children. Navalny, a lawyer turned anti-corruption campaigner, has announced his intention to stand, though few expect him to be allowed on to the ballot.

Kira Yarmysh tweeted the information shortly after Navalny was reportedly arrested outside his Moscow home while on his way to an unsanctioned protest demonstration.

Mr Navalny is mounting a long-shot bid to unseat Mr Putin in next year’s election, but polls suggest he has little chance of being successful because of the president’s high ratings.

Over 800 people were detained in Moscow, while in St Petersburg, about 500 were forced into police buses at a rally that drew up to 10,000 people.

“The rally is absolutely peaceful, it isn’t a protest, just a gathering of people who want to express their views”, said Anastasia Lukanina, 30.

Protesters, many carrying Russian flags, chanted “Russia without Putin” and other anti-Kremlin slogans as police warned against political statements.

Navalny’s protests were scheduled to coincide with Russia Day, the holiday celebrating the end of the Soviet era. “This is a very powerful idea, and that is why there are so many people“. The protesters were shouting “Putin is a thief”, “Putin out” and “Russia without thieves”.

Russia’s anti-corruption protests come in response to an investigation by Navalny’s Anti-corruption Foundation into what was described as a corruption scheme in which Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev was said to have amassed lavish mansions and taken luxury shopping trips.