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By Andrey Kuzmin and Andrew Osborn
Police block a street at a rally against the planned increase in the retirement age in St. Petersburg, Russia on September 9, 2018. REUTERS / Anton Vaganov
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Thousands of supporters of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny on Sunday protested across Russia against the expected increase in retirement age.
The demonstrations, which the police sometimes interrupted by beating and dragging the participants, were a challenge for the authorities, who were hoping for a strong turnout in the regional elections on Sunday, despite widespread anger at the decision.
The proposed pension changes, which are currently before parliament, have reduced President Vladimir Putin's popularity rating by 15 points. They are the most unpopular measure taken by the government since the removal of Soviet-era benefits in 2005, leading to protests at the national level.
Navalny, barred from state television and prevented from running against President Putin earlier this year, hopes to take advantage of public anger over the reform.
He had planned to hold a protest in Moscow on Sunday, but last month a court found him guilty of breaking protest laws and jailed him for 30 days. Navalny said the initiative was aimed at derailing protests in more than 80 cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg.
OVD-Info, a human rights organization that monitors detentions, said 291 Navalny supporters were arrested by police Sunday in 19 cities, including some of Navalny's closest aides.
In Moscow, where authorities have rejected a demand for protest from supporters of Navalny, about 2,000 people gathered in Pushkin's central square, authorities and Reuters journalists said.
Some have chanted "Russia will be free" and "Putin is a thief". The riot police ordered them to disperse or face prosecution. Some demonstrators then marched through the center of Moscow before the riot police arrested them with metal barriers and sometimes brutal detentions.
Despite the nature of the event, many of the participants were young.
"I came here to protest the pension reform, I have to live in this country and I want to have hope for the future and good old age," said Nikolai Borodin, 22.
Another protester, 23-year-old Katya Shomnikova, said, "They (the authorities) have stolen my future life, we will have to correct what has been done. I want a better life for myself and my children.
A Reuters witness saw the police detain at least three protesters in Moscow.
After being amended by Putin, the reforms envisage raising the retirement age for men from 65 to 60 and from 60 to 60 for women. The average life expectancy of men is 66 years and that of women 77 years.
Opinion polls place Navalny's support at one figure, but supporters say he won nearly a third of the vote in a 2013 Moscow mayoral race and could give Putin a chance if he was allowed to run against him. field.
Putin is keen to never mention Navalny by name, but suggested he was Washington's choice for the Russian presidency.
Navalny compared Putin to an autocratic tsar who hung on power too long. Authorities have not registered his party Russia of the future.
Elections to select leaders from 26 of Russia's 85 regions were also held on Sunday, including in Moscow.
Written by Andrew Osborn and Maria Kiselyova; Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky and Kirsten Donovan
