Several thousand protesters in Moscow in support of rival Navalny

Moscow, Russia | Thousands of protesters stormed a rally in Moscow and St. Petersburg on Saturday afternoon in support of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

“Russia will be free,” shouted a crowd gathered at the Kremlin’s No. 1 protest in Pushkin Square in the Russian capital, “Putin is a murderer.”

About 4,000 people had gathered there, according to police reports. The opposition did not announce an estimate.

There were dozens of police arrests, at the same time, a message repeated oliparappumpotu, participants “to leave this illegal event” that had invited journalists at the site said eehppi.

Police officers were attacked with batons on demonstrators threw panippantukalai.

Others held placards with slogans such as “I am not afraid” or “Do not dictator”.

“Robbers in uniform protect robbers in power,” Vera Spivakova, a 71-year-old pensioner, accused AFP.

In St. Petersburg, the country’s second city and the home of President Vladimir Putin, at least 2,000 protesters gathered at the center, chanting anti-Putin slogans.

Even there, the arrests are counted by dozens.

Elsewhere in Russia, the Far East, Siberia and even the Urals, protests rallied hundreds or thousands of people, depending on the city.

Alexei Navalny, 44, who was detained until at least February 15 and targeted by several legal entities, was arrested on Jan. 17 after returning from Germany, and after five months recovering, charged the Kremlin.

After serving time in prison, he began calling for demonstrations across the country this Saturday, following a two-hour video trial in which he accused Vladimir Putin of owning a luxury apartment built for a billion euros. The shores of the Black Sea.

It has been viewed nearly 68 million times since Tuesday.

Russian opposition activist Navalny’s wife says she was arrested

Yulia Navalnasa, the wife of Russian opposition Alexei Navalny, announced on Saturday that she had been arrested by police in Moscow during a protest in support of her imprisoned husband.

“Sorry for the poor quality (of the photo), the light in the basement van is bad,” he quoted on his Instagram page, posting a selfie taken in a police vehicle.