Russia: Arrests at the protests held in support of Alexei Navalny
The Russian police arrested on Sunday, in the center of Moscow, several activists who were demanding the release of the imprisoned leader of the opposition, Aleksey Navalny, who turns 47 today, EFE and Agerpres report.
According to the OVD-Info organization, about ten people with placards such as "You are not alone, Freedom for Navalny" have already been arrested in Pushkin Square.
Also taken to the police station were a woman with a "Happy Birthday" balloon, a man handing out leaflets, another wearing a "Watch out for Russia" t-shirt and a man wearing a jacket with the acronym SHIZO, which means isolation cell. Law enforcement also detained journalists covering the protest at the monument to Alexander Pushkin in central Moscow, where numerous riot police were deployed.
Around the square, a traditional meeting place for the opposition to the Kremlin, several buses are parked, inside which are the national guard, as well as police trucks and vans.
OVD-Info also reported arrests in other Russian cities, from the European side, such as St. Petersburg, to the Urals and Siberia. Protests are taking place in more than 120 cities around the world on Sunday, including London, Paris, Madrid, Berlin, Sydney, Tokyo, Buenos Aires, Mexico and Sao Paulo, according to the Telegram channel of Navalny's team.
The opposition called this world day two weeks ago to rally support for its leader, who has spent nearly 900 days behind bars, including nearly 200 in solitary confinement at a prison in the Vladimir region, less than 200 kilometers from Moscow. Navalny's collaborators, who are all in exile abroad, accused the prison authorities of trying to poison him in prison.
"Life is made in such a way that social progress and a better future is achieved only if some people are willing to pay for their right to hold beliefs. The more such people there are, the lower the price to pay for all," Navalnyi wrote on his Telegram account on Sunday.
In November 2022, the Russian judiciary rejected an appeal by Navalny's lawyers and upheld his eight-year prison sentence for fraud and outrage.
