From the BBC:
“Alexei Navalny: Thousands
across Russia defy ban on protests”
Thousands of people around Russia
have joined unauthorised rallies to protest against the detention of jailed
opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Demonstrators are calling for Navalny, who
has been on hunger strike for weeks, to receive proper medical care. He was
jailed in February and is demanding medical attention for acute back pain and
leg numbness. The largest demonstration was in Moscow, but others took place in
major cities around the country. These included St Petersburg, Vladivostok in
the Far East, a number of cities in Siberia, and the central city of Vladimir
where Navalny is being held. The opposition had hoped Wednesday's protests
would be the largest in years, but reports suggest they have been smaller than
those that took place shortly before Navalny was jailed. More than 14,000
people protested in 29 cities, police said. This included 6,000 people who
gathered in Moscow. But estimates from monitoring groups tend to far exceed
official police figures. One such group, OVD-Info, said more than 1,000 people
had been detained nationwide.
'Fight for the future' "This
is one of the last gasps of a free Russia," one protester told Reuters
news agency. "We came out for Alexei." "This is a fight
for the future," another demonstrator, Andrei Zamyatin, told AFP. Others
were less hopeful about the impact the mass action could have. "I don't
think this protest can save Navalny," Alexander Butuzov told AFP. "There
would need to be at least 200,000 to 300,000 people in the streets," he
said. The protesters defied stark warnings from the authorities and a
heavy police presence in most major cities. "Any aggressive actions
by participants in unauthorised public meetings, especially attempts to provoke
clashes with law enforcement officials, will be regarded as a threat to public
safety and immediately suppressed," the interior ministry said earlier
this week. In Moscow, riot police urged people to leave the protest area
and formed barricades to try and contain the demonstrators' route. They
earlier cordoned off the area around Manezh exhibition hall, where Mr Putin
addressed both houses of parliament during his annual state of the nation
speech.
On Monday, Navalny was moved to a
prison hospital where the authorities said his condition was
"satisfactory". The FSIN prison service added that he was being
examined by a doctor daily and had agreed to take vitamins. But the
44-year-old's doctors warned he would "die within the next few days"
if not given urgent medical attention for his back pain and leg numbness. He
started a hunger strike on 31 March in protest at not being able to see his own
medical team. His doctors say recent blood test results indicate he could
suffer kidney failure and go into cardiac arrest at any moment. Navalny was
poisoned with a nerve agent last August and only narrowly survived. After his
transfer to intensive care in Berlin, toxicologists concluded that the poison
was Russian weapons-grade Novichok. Western governments blamed the Russian
state for the attack, and Navalny accused President Vladimir Putin directly.
The Kremlin denied any involvement and disputed the conclusion about Novichok.
^ It’s good to see ordinary
Russians not drink Putin’s Kool-Aid and stand-up for what is right. ^
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.