page_title: 2019 Moscow protests
section_title: Protests
hierarchical_section_title: 2019 Moscow protests / Protests
caption_attribution_description: English: Rally in support of opposition candidates for deputies of the Moscow City Duma. Русский: Акция в поддержку оппозиционных кандидатов в депутаты Московского городской думы.
context_page_description: Starting from July 2019 numerous approved and unapproved rallies in Moscow began, caused by the situation with the 2019 Moscow City Duma elections. Widespread public protests were triggered by numerous authorities' violations, claimed by the independent opposition candidates, during the registration procedure. Rallies on Sakharov Avenue on 20 July and 10 August 2019 became the largest political rallies in Russia since the 2011–2013 protests. The July 27 rally established a record on number of detainees: 1373 people were detained. The subsequent appeals of the MCEC's decisions to the CEC by the independent candidates didn't lead to any results.
  The protests were accompanied by massive administrative arrests of unregistered independent candidates and two criminal cases: the obstructing the work of election commissions case and the riots case. The Second Service of FSB participated in the investigation of the events. It was reported that the intelligence agency is trying to find opposition ties with foreign structures and is trying to prove financing of protests from abroad.
context_section_description: On July 14, 17 independent candidates met with supporters in Novopushkinsky Square. After that they went to the City Hall and finally to Mokhovaya Street to the MCEC building. Candidates demanded to accept signatures in their support and to allow them to participate in the election. The Police and the National Guard initially acted politely, but later they began to break up tents in the yard of the MCEC and to detain the protestors. According to the OVD-Info portal, by the evening 39 people were detained, including candidates Ilya Yashin, Lyubov Sobol, Ivan Zhdanov and Yulia Galyamina. Four protesters were hospitalized after a hard detention, several activists were beaten by the police. Detained candidates called for supporters to meet again at the MCEC building the next day.
  On July 15, 10 candidates arrived to a meeting with the head of the MCEC Gorbunov. The meeting planned to be open, however journalists were not allowed to enter the MCEC building and Gorbunov set several conditions: he would talk with the candidates one by one in a closed format only. Only 3 candidates accepted these conditions. Later nine candidates were denied registration. Then, Ilya Yashin announced that the MCEC removed him from the elections due to the allegedly exceeding the allowable number of false signatures and refused to accept written confirmations of the so-called "wrong" signatories. In the evening of the same day, several hundred people gathered at Trubnaya Square for an action for admission of independent candidates to the elections. The candidates called for holding such meetings every day until their requirements were met.
  On July 16, most of the independent candidates received registration denials, in particular, Lyubov Sobol, Ivan Zhdanov, Konstantin Yankauskas, Yulia Galyamina, Dmitry Gudkov, Gennady Gudkov, Alexander Solovyov, Sergey Mitrokhin, Elena Rusakova, Kirill Goncharov, Anastasia Bryukhanova. In all cases the reason was the exceeding of the maximum allowable percentage of invalid voter signatures. Only a few independent candidates received registration. The action on Trubnaya that day took place despite the heavy rain. There were no detentions.
  On July 17, meeting on Trubnaya Square took place again, about 800 people participated. Gorbunov announced results of candidates registration campaign: 233 candidates were registered, 57 got a refusal.
  Independent opposition candidates collected more than a thousand official statements from Muscovites, including statements with video, demanding that their signatures be considered valid. They continued to conduct daily “For the Right to Choose” actions on Trubnaya Square till Saturday. The MCEC pointed out they are ready to consider the application and re-check the signatures. The PCCSHR recommended to allow independent candidates to participate in the election.
caption: Moscow rally in support of opposition candidates for the Moscow City Duma. July 27, 2019.
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