Posted on Jul 27, 2019
Russian Police Arrest Hundreds Of Demonstrators At Moscow Protest
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Police in Moscow have arrested hundreds of people for demonstrating outside of City Hall. Protesters are calling for fair elections and for opposition candidates to be allowed to run for the city council.
Police had detained 648 people by Saturday afternoon, according to the OVD-Info group, an independent monitor that tracks police departments in Russia.
Election authorities barred opposition candidates because they said they didn't have enough valid signatures on nominating petitions. Candidates are required to collect about 5,000 signatures to run for election. The opposition candidates say they've been kept from the ballot for political reasons.
In the lead-up to the demonstrations on Saturday, Moscow police rounded up and detained several high-profile opposition politicians, including Ilya Yashin, Dmitry Gudkov and Ivan Zhdanov. Earlier in the week, authorities arrested one of the most prominent leaders of the opposition, Alexei Navalny, who had called for today's protest. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
NPR's Moscow correspondent Lucian Kim tweeted, "After nighttime raids on opposition leaders, Moscow mayor issues stark warning on unauthorized protest today. Crackdown in full swing."
Police had detained 648 people by Saturday afternoon, according to the OVD-Info group, an independent monitor that tracks police departments in Russia.
Election authorities barred opposition candidates because they said they didn't have enough valid signatures on nominating petitions. Candidates are required to collect about 5,000 signatures to run for election. The opposition candidates say they've been kept from the ballot for political reasons.
In the lead-up to the demonstrations on Saturday, Moscow police rounded up and detained several high-profile opposition politicians, including Ilya Yashin, Dmitry Gudkov and Ivan Zhdanov. Earlier in the week, authorities arrested one of the most prominent leaders of the opposition, Alexei Navalny, who had called for today's protest. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail.
NPR's Moscow correspondent Lucian Kim tweeted, "After nighttime raids on opposition leaders, Moscow mayor issues stark warning on unauthorized protest today. Crackdown in full swing."
Russian Police Arrest Hundreds Of Demonstrators At Moscow Protest
Posted from npr.org
Russia
Moscow
Protest
Posted >1 y ago
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MAJ James Woods
You mean never happen there again. Have to believe for awhile there it was looking optimistic under certain leaders. A corrupt Democracy is better than an authoritarian government pretending to be a democracy.
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Nice to see Putin’s Russian style of Democracy is in full play. Does anyone think America will be like this where one can never speak negatively about their government or political leaders? Making demands for change being outlawed?
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SMSgt Lawrence McCarter
I sure hope not but I'm not making any predictions and I won't say I'm not worried.
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