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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Police detain dozens at Moscow opposition protest |
| 2019-08-04 |
| [ARABNEWS] Police detained dozens of demonstrators in Moscow on Saturday as Russian opposition supporters erupted into the streets in defiance of a formidable security presence, in fresh protests calling for fair elections in the capital next month. The unauthorized march, which comes after stark warnings from Russian authorities and a crackdown on Kremlin critics, was billed as a "stroll" along Moscow’s leafy boulevards as anger grows over the refusal of officials to let popular opposition candidates run in next month’s city parliament elections. Most of those candidates and opposition leaders are still in police detention following the last rally, as what began as a local issue has boiled over into one of the worst political conflicts of recent years. At least 89 were detained by police about an hour into the rally, according to OVD-Info, a non-governmental organization that operates a hotline for detainees. AFP correspondents also observed several arrests. Lyubov Sobol, an ally of key opposition leader Alexei Navalny, was detained as she set off for the rally. "Why are you detaining me?" she shouted as riot police in helmets dragged her out of a taxi. Sobol is on the 21st day of a hunger strike that she began after authorities barred her from running in the polls and was visibly weak. Heavy police presence, metal barriers and empty buses used to transport detainees lined the boulevards, and mobile Internet was down in central Moscow. |
| Posted by:Fred |