Live blog: A day of solidarity with Alexey Navalny Meduza tracks protests and arrests as activists across Russia rally for the imprisoned and ailing opposition politician
What happened: Supporters of imprisoned opposition politician Alexey Navalny, who has been on a hunger strike since March 31, demonstrated in cities across Russia to demand that he receive urgent medical care from his team of private doctors.
Where it happened: Activists in Navalny’s political and anti-corruption network tracked protests in most major Russian cities, including St. Petersburg and Moscow.
When it happened: Today’s demonstrations lacked official permits, meaning that the Russian authorities could prosecute anyone responsible for disseminating information about the exact time and location of these protests as an illegal incitement to participate. That said, when announcing its refusal to allow today’s opposition rally, the Moscow Mayor’s Office stated precisely where and when demonstrators are forbidden to assemble.
Where to stream these demonstrations online: The independent television network Dozhd is covering these protests live all day. Meduza and the OVD-Info project mapping the day’s arrests here.
The situation as of 11:00 p.m. Moscow time (4:00 p.m. EST)
The protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg have come to an end. According to OVD-Info, today’s nationwide arrest count is upwards of 1,200 people. This includes nearly 500 detentions in St. Petersburg, and only about 25 in Moscow.
According to official estimates, 6,000 people came out to protest in Moscow and 4,500 in St. Petersburg. Navalny’s associates insists these figures are much too low. Citing unnamed experts, Ekho Moskvy editor-in-chief Alexey Venediktov said there were an estimated 10,000 to 15,000 protesters in Moscow and 6,000 to 8,000 in St. Petersburg.
Large rallies were also seen in Yekaterinburg (approximately 5,000 people), Novosibirsk and Omsk (each city saw about 3,000 people), and Chelyabinsk (approximately 2,000 people).
Alexey Navalny’s associates, Lyubov Sobol and Kira Yarmysh were detained in the morning. Sobol was later released from police custody, but she’s facing administrative charges for repeatedly violating the established procedure for organizing a rally. Yarmysh has been jailed for ten days after getting written up for allegedly organizing a rally by means of the Internet (even though she’s been under house arrest with a ban on using the Internet since late January).
This ends Meduza’s live blog coverage for today. More detailed reporting still to come!
Moscow
One of the last groups of protesters in Moscow are walking along Chistoprudny Boulevard and chanting “Freedom for political prisoners!”
St. Petersburg
The protest organizers have announced the end of the demonstration in St. Petersburg. The police have already cleared the last area where protesters were gathering, near the Zvenigorodskaya Subway Station.
Law enforcement officers detained 1,004 people at protests across Russia today, according to OVD-Info
The majority were in St. Petersburg, where police detained 351 people. Just 20 people were detained in Moscow.
St. Petersburg earlier today
Arrests are ongoing in St. Petersburg.
Moscow
By all appearances, the demonstrations in Moscow are coming to a close. Meduza’s correspondents report seeing two groups of several hundred people on the Garden Ring. The area around the Lubyanka Building (the FSB headquarters) is calm, though there are columns of police officers there.
Police officers have arrested twenty people amid the demonstrations in downtown Moscow, the Public Monitoring Commission (ONK) told TASS.
Police officers making an arrest in St. Petersburg.
Volgograd
An alleged plainclothes police officer sprayed a crowd of protesters with tear gas as they were trying to pass through the archway of a residential building on Volgograd’s Lenin Avenue, V1. ru reported. Around 15 people who tried to run back out onto the street were detained.
The alleged plainclothes officer also sprayed tear gas at people who were lying on the ground, as well as at journalists standing nearby. There’s a video of the incident available on Telegram.
St. Petersburg
There are no longer any large groups of protesters on the streets, only journalists and riot police, Meduza’s correspondent reports. However, the news outlet Fontanka has shared a video of several dozen people walking along the street and singing the Russian national anthem.
Mediazona correspondent Yuliya Sugueva has been released from police custody in Makhachkala without receiving a protocol. According to the police officers she spoke to, they are still holding nine people. Sugueva was questioned by an agent from the Anti-Extremism Center (Center E). The police wanted to photograph her, but she refused.
Lyubov Sobol, who was detained this morning, has been released from the police station reports Novaya Gazeta.
The head of Navalny’s Tomsk office, Ksenia Fadeeva, has been detained along with her deputy, Andrey Fateev, reports the Telegram channel Ulitsa Barkhatnaya. They didn’t attend today’s rally, nor were they involved in organizing it.
St. Petersburg
Kommersant correspondent Gleb Merkin was detained in Kazan while covering the rally in support of Navalny. He was wearing a “Press” vest and had a special pass. Merkin said that the police checked his documents and said he “wasn’t on the list.” He’s being taken to the police station.
In St. Petersburg, the crowd on Sennaya Square has dispersed, reports Meduza’s correspondent. Here’s how this area looked earlier this evening:
Moscow
Several thousand people have gathered on Moscow’s Trubnaya Square, reports Meduza’s correspondent. There are only a few dozen riot police officers in the area.
Police officers in St. Petersburg are actively using stun guns against protesters, reports Meduza’s correspondent.
Russian police officials report an estimated 6,000 protesters at the rally in Moscow and 4,500 in St. Petersburg.
“That’s just laughable,” commented Navalny’s chief of staff Leonid Volkov in a livestream broadcast. FBK director Ivan Zhdanov suggests multiplying these estimates by ten.
Police officers in St. Petersburg are carrying out mass arrests near Sennaya Square, reports Meduza’s correspondent. The local news outlet Fontanka has also reported violent arrests in area.
Police officers in Voronezh detaining and literally carrying off SotaVision correspondent Fyodor Orlov. In the video you can hear him shouting: “Help! What’s happening? I’m a journalist!”
Alexey Navalny’s brother Oleg Navalny has joined Yulia Navalnaya in downtown Moscow.
Berlin
London
Protesters in Rostov-on-Don are shining their cell phone flashlights and chanting “Freedom for Navalny!”
Protesters in Moscow chanting “Putin is a killer!”
Moscow
Police officers attempting to block the sidewalk on Tverskaya Street in Moscow.
Moscow, Tverskaya Street
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