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Thousands of Russians have taken part in unauthorized protests demanding the release of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
More than 4,000 people have been arrested, according to a monitoring group. In Moscow, the police closed metro stations and blocked the city center.
Mr Navalny was jailed on his return to Russia after recovering from an attempt to kill him with a nerve agent.
He blames the security services for the attack but the Kremlin denies it.
The opposition figure had just arrived from Berlin, where he spent months recovering from the near-fatal incident.
Russian authorities say Mr Navalny was supposed to report to police regularly due to a suspended sentence for embezzlement.
Mr. Navalny denounced his detention as “manifestly illegal”, claiming that the authorities had allowed him to travel to Berlin for treatment for the poisoning in Novichok, which occurred in Russia last August.
Mr Navalny blamed state security agents under Mr Putin’s command for the assault on his life, and investigative journalists have named Russian FSB agents suspected of the poisoning. But the Kremlin denies any involvement and disputes the conclusion, by Western weapons experts, that Novichok was used.
Meanwhile, Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied reports that he owns a vast palace on the Black Sea, as Navalny claims in a video that has gone viral in Russia and viewed more than 100 million times.
What’s the latest?
In Moscow, the BBC’s Sarah Rainsford said protesters played cat-and-mouse with the police, approaching the officers before retreating to safety. Police squads pulled some protesters through the riot shield lines. Footage showed a flood of people being escorted on buses by riot police.
The protesters then tried to get to Matrosskaya Tishina prison where Mr. Navalny is being held.
Mr Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, is among those detained during Sunday’s protest, Mr Navalny’s team said. Earlier, she posted a photo of herself on the way to the rally.
Police said the protests were illegal, while Russian authorities warned the protests could spread the coronavirus.
A 40-year-old protester in Moscow told Reuters she was present despite having a panic attack the night before because of the possible repercussions she could suffer for her participation.
“I understand that I live in a totally anarchic state. In a police state, without independent courts. In a country ruled by corruption. I would like to live differently, ”she says.
In St. Petersburg, Mr. Putin’s hometown, a crowd gathered in a central square and chanted: “Down with the Tsar”.
Rallies in favor of Mr. Navalny have already taken place in eastern Russia. In the Siberian city of Novosibirsk, at least 2,000 people marched through the city chanting “Freedom” and “Putin is a thief”.
In Yakutsk, where temperatures dropped to -40C, a protester named Ivan said it was the first rally he had attended.
“I am tired of the despotism and anarchy of the authorities. No questions were answered. I want clarity, openness and change. That’s what made me come here, ”he said.
Other rallies saw around 1,000 people protest in Omsk, also in Siberia, and around 7,000 people protest in Yekaterinburg in the Urals region, according to local media.
Watchdog group OVD-Info said police arrested more than 4,000 people during protests in 85 cities across the country. They included 1,167 detainees in Moscow and 862 in St. Petersburg.
A number of Mr. Navalny’s close associates have been arrested since last week and others, including his brother and Pussy Riot activist Maria Alyokhina, have been placed under house arrest.
The editor of a Russian human rights website Sergei Smirnov was also arrested outside his home on Saturday. News of his detention, apparently over allegations he participated in last week’s protests, has been condemned by other journalists.
In Moscow, police reportedly struggled to find a place in prison for supporters of the opposition leader.
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