Opposition demonstrations have been held in major Russian cities, as the country marks its national day. The Moscow protest location was changed from the authorized Sakharova Street to an unauthorized location on the eve of the event.
12 June 2017
Opposition activist Alexey Navalny has been detained for 30 days, starting Monday, after a Moscow court confirmed his arrest and charged him with disobeying law enforcement officers and repeatedly violating the rules for organizing a rally.
Navalny was found guilty of “the violation by an organizer of a public event of the established rules of organizing… an assembly, rally or demonstration,” the court’s statement read, as cited by RIA Novosti.
Opposition figure Aleksey Navalny has been brought to a local Moscow court, Navalny's lawyer, Vadim Kobzev, said on Twitter.
Earlier, the lawyer tweeted that Navalny's administrative case involves the violation of rules for organizing or carrying out a public rally.
The activist is accused of having violated the rules repeatedly, which may see him put under administrative arrest for up to 30 days, or fined up to 300,000 rubles ($5,260).
About 4,500 people took part in an unauthorized protest in the Russian capital, Moscow police said in a statement. More than 150 people have been taken to police stations for “breaching public order,” the statement said.
Around 3,500 people participated in an unauthorized event in St. Petersburg, police report, adding that 500 people were detained for “various violations.”
In Vladivostok in Russia's Far East, opposition rally participants moved the protest from an authorized location to a different part of the city, TASS reported. Police warned protesters the new rally was unauthorized, with several people being detained after refusing to disperse.
At the unauthorized protest on Tverskaya Street, police have made some "selective detentions," RIA Novosti reported, citing the head of Moscow's regional security department, Vladimir Chernikov.
"Provocateurs" who had been shouting slogans, climbed street signs and "behaved inadequately in the crowd" were detained, Chernikov told RIA Novosti.
A police cordon at Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow is blocking people from going to Tverskaya Street. They are being asked to proceed either to the metro station or neighboring streets.
Police are urging people not to disrupt public order or break the law.
Several thousand people have taken part in authorized opposition rallies in the Urals region. The protests have been peaceful and with no incidents, local police say.
Up to 2,000 people took part in an authorized rally in Yekaterinburg. In Chelyabinsk Region, around 2,500 protesters participated in protests, police said, with several hundred people also protesting in Tyumen, Kurgan, Surgut, and Nizhnevartovsk, among other cities.
A sanctioned opposition protest has finished in the central Russian city of Belgorod, TASS reports, citing regional police spokesman Aleksey Goncharuk.
“Ninety-five people attended the meeting, according to official information. As the organizers said, the event happened within the sanctioned bounds,” the spokesman told TASS.
Opposition protests sanctioned by the authorities have ended in the cities of Surgut and Nizhnevartovsk in the Ural region.
“The events concluded without any incidents. No one was detained,” police spokeswoman Olga Abmaykina told Interfax-Ural news agency.
The police are urging people to leave the site of the unsanctioned protest on Tverskaya Street in downtown Moscow and move towards Pushkinskaya Square.
RT correspondent Murad Gazdiev also reports from the ground that arrests were made at the site of the unsanctioned protest on Tverskaya Street.
The sanctioned opposition protest on Sakharova Street in Moscow concluded without incident, according to the Moscow police press service. Around 1,800 people participated in the event, according to police estimates.
“Police and National Guard maintained public order and safety, no serious violations of the public order were registered,” the police said.
A stage along with audio systems can be seen on Sakharova Street, where a protest is being held against planned mass renovation project in Moscow. On Sunday, Aleksey Navalny wrote that all the companies he had contacted to erect a stage with audio systems at the site of the opposition protest on Sakharova Street, which was sanctioned by the Moscow authorities, declined to do so. He cited this as a reason why he called for an unsanctioned protest on Tverskaya Street.
A number of people were detained and escorted away by police in Moscow, as seen in AP’s live transmission from the event.
About 1,000 people are participating in the opposition protest on Sakharova Street, sanctioned by the Moscow authorities, the press service of the Interior Ministry has said.
The New York Times Moscow bureau chief, Neil MacFarquhar, tweeted that a “blockade” had been allegedly set up on Moscow's downtown boulevard to “prevent anti-Kremlin protestors from reaching Kremlin & Red Square." The journalist later acknowledged that he was mistaken, saying “earlier retweet of sandbags seemingly to block demo was actual part of an historic re-enactment.”
Images of a heavy police presence on Moscow's central Tverskaya Street have emerged on social media.
The city authorities had warned beforehand that the street would be partly closed and security enhanced due to an outdoor festival organized for Monday.
Administrative protocols will be drawn up against Aleksey Navalny, Russian news agencies report, citing the press service of Moscow’s police office.
“Aleksey Navalny has been detained by police officers, he has been taken to the MVD [Ministry of Internal Affairs] department for drawing up protocols on administrative violations,” the press service said.
No violations have been detected during the sanctioned opposition rallies in the cities of Novosibirsk, Tomsk and Barnaul, according to police officials cited by Interfax. More than 1,500 people turned out in Novosibirsk. Meanwhile, 300-350 people gathered at a concert in Barnaul. Another sanctioned rally was held in Tomsk, where 500 demonstrators attended, according to the press service of Tomsk Region’s Interior Ministry.
Police have detained opposition figure Aleksey Navalny in the lobby of his apartment block, his wife said on Navalny’s Twitter account.
“Hi. It’s Yulia Navalnaya. Best wishes. Aleksey has been detained at his home’s entrance. He asked to say that the plans haven’t changed: Tverskaya Street,” she tweeted. Police did not confirm the arrest so far.