Moscow: Police detained hundreds of protesters at an unauthorised opposition gathering in Moscow on Saturday, as authorities upped the pressure on top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny by launching a criminal probe into his anti-graft group.

Crowds of people marched in the capital’s central boulevards for a protest “stroll” over the refusal by officials to let a number of Opposition candidates run in September polls for city parliament seats.

Most candidates and Opposition leaders, including Navalny, are being held by police following a protest rally last weekend, in which 1,400 demonstrators were detained.

On Saturday, riot police were deployed in large numbers in central Moscow, some shops and cafes were shut, metal barriers were erected and the mobile internet was down for several hours. At least 300 people were detained by police about two hours into the rally, according to OVD-Info, a non-governmental organisation that operates a hotline for detainees. Lyubov Sobol, currently three weeks into a hunger strike after being barred from taking part in the local polls and an ally of key opposition leader Navalny, was dragged from a taxi and detained on Saturday as she set off for the rally. </s> Moscow (CNN) Hundreds of protesters have been arrested by police in the center of Moscow Saturday, in a crackdown on opposition supporters demanding free and fair elections.

Thousands of Russians pledged to attend the protest in the capital Saturday, after Russian authorities banned a number of independent and opposition candidates from taking part in municipal elections in September.

Authorities stated that the candidates were barred from running because they had failed to obtain a sufficient number of signatures to be put on the ballot paper. Opposition politicians and supporters have rejected this allegation.

The decision has sparked a number of protests across Russia this month, including the largest demonstration in recent years last weekend, when 22,000 people took to the streets. Protesters threatened to hold an even larger demonstration Saturday, which was subsequently declared illegal by the authorities.

Protesters take to the streets of Moscow after a number of opposition politicians were barred from running in municipal elections in September.

Hundreds of riot police were witnessed preparing for the protests Saturday morning, and were later seen linking arms to form a line, pushing protesters away from Moscow's City Hall.

OVD-info, a Russian democracy monitoring organization, said that at least 561 people have been detained thus far during the protests.

CNN witnessed clashes between protesters and police, with at least two protesters left with bloodied faces.

Moscow police said that 3,500 people took part in the protests, including 700 journalists and bloggers.

"A significant number of detainees are not residents of Moscow. All detainees are brought to the territorial police units for investigation," the State Ministry of Internal Affairs in Moscow said in the statement.

A number of arrests and raids were also carried out on opposition candidates in the days and hours leading up to the protest.

Alexei Navalny, Russia's most outspoken opposition figure, was among those detained during the week, and was later sentenced to 30 days in prison for allegedly violating the country's protest laws by calling for the demonstrations Saturday.

Navalny said on Instagram that he was detained as he left his apartment to go on a jog. "People are right when they say that sport is not always good for your health," he quipped. "I have been detained and am now at a police station wearing shorts like a stupid man."

Dmitry Gudkov, a fellow disqualified candidate, was also detained hours before Saturday's protest. He had previously claimed that the country's future was at stake due to the barring of opposition candidates.

"If we lose now, elections will cease to exist as a political instrument," he said. "What we're talking about is whether it's legal to participate in politics today in Russia, we're talking about the country we're going to live in."

Ilya Yashin, an ally of Navalny, reported on Facebook that he had also been detained hours before the demonstration following a raid on his house, and had been taken out of the Russian capital.

Other prominent activists to be detained include Kira Yarmysh, Navalyny's spokeswoman, Lyubov Sobo and Ivan Zhdanov.

Moscow's mayor, Sergei Sobyanin, warned on Twitter that police would react decisively to restore public order.

"According to information from law enforcement authorities, serious provocations are being prepared which pose a threat to the safety, lives and health of people," he said. "Attempts at ultimatums, disorder will not lead to anything good. Order in the city will be maintained." </s> Opposition activists gathered for protest “walks” through central Moscow on Saturday, objecting to some candidates being excluded from the upcoming council election. Police have detained 600 people at the unsanctioned gathering.

One of the first to be detained was Lyubov Sobol, a rejected candidate herself and an ally of opposition figure Aleksey Navalny. The lawyer turned anti-corruption activist had been warned by city authorities against calls for more unsanctioned rallies after she dodged arrest following last Saturday’s gathering which ended up in clashes and mass detentions. Last week, she got away with a fine as a mother of an underage kid.

The rejected candidates have been accused of voter fraud, allegedly “farming” the hundreds of signatures they needed to break through the eligibility barrier. They are appealing the decision, while using protests as a pressure campaign.

Instead of gathering in one place, activists on Saturday chose to walk through Moscow’s iconic 9km-long string of boulevards and squares around the capital’s historical center. Several hundred showed up initially, with rainy weather and the outcome of the July 27 rally – which saw more than a thousand people detained – probably discouraging others.

Москва. "прогулка по бульварам" сейчас так pic.twitter.com/4z3UMQBLBA — Ольга Король (@kor_olka) August 3, 2019

The exact number of protesters, spread across the boulevards, was hard to estimate, but it was a far cry from the 21,000 marked as “going” or “interested” on the event’s Facebook page. Navalny’s team had used the number when promoting the event. The Russian Interior Ministry said some 1,500 took part in the rally.

Protesters were met with heavy police presence in areas of their planned route, with officers warning them through loudspeakers not to take part in illegal gatherings.

Many local businesses have chosen to stay shut, heeding a warning by municipal authorities that if clashes between protesters and police erupt, it could lead to damages and would be unsafe for customers.

Moscow police said on Saturday evening they have detained some 600 people. Several journalists have complained they were caught up in the arrests. Among them was Dutch reporter Joost Bosman, who tweeted a picture of himself in a police truck.

The request to hold demonstrations this Saturday was rejected earlier this week, with authorities saying the application was submitted too late to negotiate a location that both the city authorities and the organizers would agree upon. Meanwhile, at least three separate rallies have been sanctioned for August 10 and 11. The protest organizers have said they are still in talks with authorities over the details of the gatherings.

Also on rt.com Over 1,000 detained at unsanctioned Moscow rally after clashes & attempts to block roads (VIDEO)

Opposition forces in Russia seem to have been energized by the outcome of last week’s unsanctioned protest, which led to a stand-off with police, where a large number of protesters were detained. A handful of demonstrators have been charged with crimes like attacking the police or bringing melee weapons to a public gathering.

The opposition said the police action last week was disproportionately harsh and unjustified, and called for doubling down the pressure. Several of the candidates who called for protests have been slapped with detentions ranging from 10 to 30 days for breaking Russia’s rules on how mass gatherings can be held.

Also on rt.com Samples taken from Kremlin critic Navalny show no signs of poison – doctors

Whether the opposition's sentiment about last Saturday is shared by the general population in Russia is a different issue altogether. An opinion poll by VTSIOM conducted after the previous rally showed that 61 percent of Muscovites agreed that the police can use “harsh measures” in response to an unsanctioned gathering as long as they stay within the confines of the law. The poll was called a poor indicator of the public mood by supporters of the protest, since they consider the police action illegal.

The divided attitude to the wave of protests is reflected in what Russian public figures have said about it. A number of celebrities voiced their support, saying the authorities did go too far in their response to last Saturday’s protests. Others warned opposition activists against putting their trust in leaders, who are encouraging them to break the law just for the sake of escalation.

Think your friends would be interested? Share this story! </s> Police arrested more than 500 people as they gathered in Moscow on Saturday to demand fair local elections, the latest in a wave of protests after authorities blocked opposition candidates from the ballot paper. The demonstration came a week after the capital’s biggest protest in years, when some 22,000 marchers called on officials to reverse rulings and allow opposition activists to stand for the city council in September. Since then investigators have raided the homes and headquarters of several disqualified candidates, while top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was jailed for 30 days for calling the fresh protest. </s> Mordolff/iStock(MOSCOW) — Russian police arrested more than 1,000 protesters at an anti-Kremlin opposition rally in Moscow on Saturday, raiding key opposition leaders before the demonstration even began and roughly corralling them into vans afterward.

The demonstrators were protesting to demand opposition candidates be allowed to take part in Moscow’s city council elections, after authorities barred several this month, setting off widespread anger among the city’s liberal society.

Several thousand protesters on Saturday tried to gather outside Moscow’s mayor’s office on the city’s main street. But police deployed in force to block the protest, placing hundreds of riot officers and buses around the building and arresting demonstrators ahead of the event.

Police wearing helmets and body armor put up barriers along several key streets and closed off the Kremlin. From there, they roughly pushed back the demonstrators, arresting hundreds.

Ahead of the protest, Moscow’s mayor, Sergey Sobyanin, on Twitter warned that “attempts at ultimatums, organization at disorders will lead to nothing good.”

“Order in the city will be ensured in accordance with the law,” he wrote.

OVD-Info, a group that monitors arrests, said at least 648 people had been detained by early evening in Moscow. Police said of the 3,500 protesters they say attended, at least 300 were arrested.

Police employed unusually aggressive tactics ahead of the demonstration, raiding the homes of key activists and arresting several this week, including several of the candidates barred from the election. A high-profile opposition politician, Dmitry Gudkov, was detained by police as he drove into Moscow on Saturday morning, his wife told the liberal channel, TV Rain.

Alexey Navalny, the country’s most prominent opposition figure, called for the protest. He, too, was arrested earlier this week and sentenced to 30 days in jail for organizing an authorized demonstration.

Another top opposition leader, Ilya Yashin, and two of Navalny’s key associates, Ivan Zhdanov and Lyubov Sobol, were also detained on Saturday.

Police also visited the offices of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation, as well as TV Rain’s studios, while they were live-streaming the demonstration. Security camera footage posted online by one of Navalny’s supporters appeared to show masked officers bursting into the Anti-Corruption Foundation’s office and forcing people to lie on the floor.

Authorities largely prevented protesters from approaching the mayor’s office, heading them off on the narrow streets nearby. There, they tried to shove them back while pulling people out of the crowd one by one and sometimes clubbing people with batons.

Forced backward, the demonstrators began moving in large groups around the city’s avenues for hours, chased by squads of police. On one street, a group of people took shelter in a church, hiding behind its gates while a line of helmeted police looked on.

The protest was called after election authorities refused to register almost a dozen well-known opposition candidates for the city council election on September 8. Moscow’s election commission has said some of the thousands of signatures that the candidates are required to collect were fabricated, but critics have said it a ploy to keep the opposition off the ballot.

The move touched off unusual anger among Russian liberal society, who see it as a sign that the Kremlin under president Vladimir Putin will now not tolerate even low-level, legal political opposition. The searches and arrests targeting the candidates since have reinforced that belief, observers said.

“The searches against independent candidates for Moscow’s city parliament mean that legal politics has finished in Russia. From now on in practice they will only allow individuals agreed in advance, and all the rest they will try to frighten and declare criminals,” an op-ed in the renowned opposition investigative newspaper, Novaya Gazeta, said this week.

Moscow’s city council, which has 45 seats, manages a huge municipal budget and is currently controlled by the ruling Kremlin party, United Russia. A number of the candidates arrested this week, such as Yashin, Sobol and Zhdanov, have built a following beyond Moscow through their activism, publishing investigations into alleged corruption and other abuses by officials. </s> Protest monitor says at least 561 people are arrested at the rally – more than one in 7 of those officially taking part

MOSCOW, Russia – Police arrested more than 500 people as they gathered in Moscow on Saturday, July 27, to demand fair local elections, the latest in a wave of protests after authorities blocked opposition candidates from the ballot paper.

Around 3,500 people took to the streets for the unauthorized rally, according to official figures. Several of the arrests were violent and police used batons against protestors, Agence France-Presse reporters at the scene saw.

The demonstration came a week after the capital's biggest protest in years, when some 22,000 marchers called on officials to reverse rulings and allow opposition activists to stand for the city council in September.

Since then investigators have raided the homes and headquarters of several disqualified candidates, while top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was jailed for 30 days for calling the fresh protest.

"Honestly, I'm scared," 42-year-old IT worker Alexei Sprizhitsky told AFP at the demonstration on Saturday. (READ: Russian protesters rally against Kremlin policies)

He said the last time he had seen this level of pressure on activists was in 2012, when President Vladimir Putin's return to the Kremlin after 4 years as prime minister sparked popular dissent.

Other leading opposition figures and would-be candidates were arrested in the hours leading up to the Saturday's protest, which comes amid declining living standards and a fall in Putin's approval ratings.

Local polls are a rare opportunity for dissenting voices to participate in political life as anti-Kremlin parties have been squeezed out of parliament over Putin's two decades in charge.

OVD Info, which monitors demonstration, said at least 561 people had been arrested at the rally – more than one in 7 of those officially taking part.

The organization reported that arrested protesters suffered from various injuries including a broken nose and head fractures.

Security was tight in central Moscow and police shut down the area outside city hall where protesters were planning to gather, forcing participants out onto side streets.

"This is our city!", "Shame!" and "We want free elections," the crowd chanted as police blocked off the site.

Politician and disqualified candidate Dmitry Gudkov was arrested shortly before the march. Earlier he had said the future of the country was at stake.

"If we lose now, elections will cease to exist as a political instrument," he said.

"What we're talking about is whether it's legal to participate in politics today in Russia, we're talking about the country we're going to live in."

While pro-Kremlin candidates enjoy the support of the state, independent candidates say they have been made to jump through countless hoops in order to get on the ballot for the city polls.

After activists and ordinary Muscovites staged pickets last week, including outside the local election commission building, investigators said they were launching a criminal probe into obstructing the work of election officials.

If found guilty, organizers risk up to 5 years in prison.

Navalny ally Ivan Zhdanov said he had been arrested shortly ahead of the demonstration. Barred candidate Ilya Yashin meanwhile announced he was detained in the early hours of Saturday morning following a raid on his home.

Would-be candidate Lyubov Sobol, who this week launched a hunger strike, was arrested at the demonstration.

Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin called the unauthorized protest a "security threat", adding that "order will be ensured according to the relevant laws".

Elena Rastovka, a 68-year-old pensioner at the demonstration, told AFP: "I've been afraid all my life, but enough is enough. If we stay at home, nothing will change.

"Authorities arrest people who want to challenge them. Look at what they're doing – the authorities do not like the people."

Some said it was the authorities' heavy response that had turned a local issue into a major protest movement.

"Who would have thought it would become important to take part in such a bizarre and boring affair as the Moscow parliament election?" asked Viktoria Popova, a 30-year-old illustrator, ahead of the rally. – Rappler.com </s> MOSCOW: Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been freed after a brief spell in police detention in Moscow as thousands rallied against a March election expected to extend Vladimir Putin's Kremlin term.

"I'm free," Navalny said on Twitter late Sunday, adding: "Today has been an important day... Thanks to all those who were not afraid to fight for their rights."

Heeding a call by Putin's bete noire, thousands braved freezing temperatures to stage rallies in dozens of cities to protest upcoming "pseudo-elections," as Navalny and his supporters refer to them.

In Moscow, Navalny chanted "Swindlers and thieves" at a rally in the city centre Sunday before several police officers pounced on the 41-year-old opposition politician, knocking him to the ground and dragging him on to a bus.

Authorities said earlier Navalny would be charged with organising an unpermitted protest, adding he had been taken to a police station.

The opposition leader urged Muscovites not to give up.

"You are not rallying for me, but for yourselves and your future," he tweeted.

- 'Down with the czar' - 

 About 4,000 people turned up for the unsanctioned rally in Moscow, with many chanting "Down with the czar" and brandishing placards saying "Voters' strike."

Authorities beefed up security, dispatching police vans and passenger buses to the city centre, but police largely refrained from arresting protesters. A crowd of protesters was later allowed to walk down to Red Square.

One group of protesters walked several kilometres and reached the government headquarters as police watched on.

Authorities estimated the Moscow turnout at around 1,000 people.

Ahead of the Moscow rally police broke into Navalny's headquarters using a power saw. Police also detained several members of Navalny's team.

- 'Not scared' -

 More than 250 people were detained across the country, according to OVD-Info, an independent monitor.

Sunday's turnout paled in comparison to last year's protests when tens of thousands demonstrated against corruption among Russia's elite in March and June, 2017.

Police unleashed a severe crackdown afterwards, arresting more than 1,000 people including schoolchildren.

Navalny himself served three jail sentences of 15 days, 25 days and 20 days for organising unauthorised protests last year.

But many protesters said Sunday authorities would not intimidate them.

"These are not elections because we already know the result," Elena Ruzhe, 62, told AFP in Moscow.

"I'm not scared to protest," added the former culture ministry worker.

Protester Alexandra Fedorova, who wore a fur coat, said it was wrong not to let Navalny take part in the vote.

"I don't see a future. There is nobody to vote for," the 27-year-old said.

- 'I want change' - 

 Protesters expressed similar sentiments in the second city of Saint Petersburg where around 1,500 people rallied, some chanting "Russia without Putin" and "Putin is a thief."

"I want change," Andrei Petrov, 20, told AFP in the former imperial capital. "We are tired of living in this quagmire."

Earlier in the day opposition supporters protested in far eastern Russia and Siberia, including in the northern city of Yakutsk where people rallied despite temperatures of around minus 45 Celsius (minus 49 Fahrenheit).

In the Ural city of Yekaterinburg around 1,000 people turned up, with the city's mayor joining the crowd.

"What we are being offered now is not an election," the outspoken mayor, Yevgeny Roizman, told the gathering.

Navalny -- seen as the only politician able to take on Putin -- has built a robust protest movement, tapping into the anger of a younger generation yearning for change.

He says the upcoming election will be little more than a coronation of Putin who is expected to win a fourth presidential term, becoming the longest-serving Russian leader since Stalin.

Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov warned unsanctioned rallies would lead to "certain consequences" -- a thinly-veiled promise of punishment.

Last year Navalny mounted a forceful bid to run for president but officials ruled him ineligible due to a criminal conviction which he says is politically motivated.

Navalny has said he would use the full force of his campaign -- including over 200,000 volunteers -- to organise "voters' strikes" and encourage Russians to stay away from polling stations on election day.

After 18 years of leadership, both as president and prime minister, Putin fatigue is spreading across Russia.

But the post-Soviet turbulence of the 1990s remains deeply ingrained in Russia's collective psyche, making many reluctant to take to the streets, observers say. </s> MOSCOW — Russian police detained opposition leader Alexei Navalny in central Moscow on Sunday at a rally Navalny had called to protest corruption.

A Reuters reporter saw police detain Navalny on Moscow's Tverskaya Street and put him in a police truck. Hundreds of opposition protesters crowded around the police van and tried to prevent it from taking him away.

A tweet from Navalny's account after the incident said: "Guys, I'm all right. Don't try to break me out. Go on walking down the Tverskaya. Our topic today is fight against corruption."

Russian protesters denouncing government corruption had gathered across Russia, and some scuffled with police.

The protests Sunday appear to be one of the largest coordinated outpourings of dissatisfaction since the 2011-12 demonstrations following a fraud-tainted parliamentary election.

The demonstrations, driven by Navalny, focus on his recent claims that Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev has amassed a collection of mansions, yachts and vineyards.

Moscow police told the TASS news agency that the number of people detained was "more than 500." Police said those detained will face "administrative prosecution," or fines and arrests.

But the final tally of those detained in Moscow was 700, according to the human rights monitoring group OVD-Info.

Navalny's press secretary, Kira Yarmush, said on Twitter that people at his office had been detained and that Leonid Volkov, the head of the office and co-founder of Navalny's unregistered Party of Progress, was facing extremism charges.

Some demonstrators have showed up with their faces painted green, a reference to a recent attack on Navalny when an assailant threw a green antiseptic liquid onto his face.

It isn't the first time Navalny has been in trouble with the police. Just last month, he was convicted of embezzling 16 million rubles ($270,000) in 2009.

At the time, Navalny said the conviction was an effort to stop him from challenging President Vladimir Putin's party in coming elections. People with criminal convictions are ineligible to run for office in Russia. </s> Moscow: Russian Opposition leader Alexei Navalny has been freed after a brief spell in police detention in Moscow as thousands rallied against a March election expected to extend Vladimir Putin's Kremlin term.

"I'm free," Navalny said on Twitter late on Sunday, adding: "Today has been an important day... Thanks to all those who were not afraid to fight for their rights."

Heeding a call by Putin's bete noire, thousands braved freezing temperatures to stage rallies in dozens of cities to protest upcoming "pseudo-elections," as Navalny and his supporters refer to them.

In Moscow, Navalny chanted "Swindlers and thieves" at a rally in the city centre on Sunday before several police officers pounced on the 41-year-old Opposition politician, knocking him to the ground and dragging him on to a bus.

Authorities said earlier Navalny would be charged with organising an unpermitted protest, adding he had been taken to a police station.

The Opposition leader urged Muscovites not to give up.

"You are not rallying for me, but for yourselves and your future," he tweeted.

About 4,000 people turned up for the unsanctioned rally in Moscow, with many chanting "Down with the czar" and brandishing placards saying "Voters' strike."

Authorities beefed up security, dispatching police vans and passenger buses to the city centre, but police largely refrained from arresting protesters. A crowd of protesters was later allowed to walk down to Red Square.

One group of protesters walked several kilometres and reached the government headquarters as police watched on.

Authorities estimated the Moscow turnout at around 1,000 people.

Ahead of the Moscow rally police broke into Navalny's headquarters using a power saw. Police also detained several members of Navalny's team.

More than 250 people were detained across the country, according to OVD-Info, an independent monitor.

Sunday's turnout paled in comparison to last year's protests when tens of thousands demonstrated against corruption among Russia's elite in March and June, 2017.

Police unleashed a severe crackdown afterwards, arresting more than 1,000 people including schoolchildren.

Navalny himself served three jail sentences of 15 days, 25 days and 20 days for organising unauthorised protests in 2017.
Several thousand people attend a rally in Moscow organized by opposition members due to several opposition candidates being disqualified from regional elections. The protests turned violent and police detained about 1,000 people, including politician Alexei Navalny.