Navalny Detained In Moscow At Anti-Putin Rally

MOSCOW -- Russian opposition leader Aleksei Navalny and hundreds of other protesters have been detained by police at an unsanctioned demonstration on May 5 in Moscow, part of a nationwide series of protests organized by Navalny ahead of President Vladimir Putin's inauguration for a fourth presidential term.

Navalny was taken into custody shortly after arriving at the rally on Pushkin Square in the center of the Russian capital where riot police carted away other protesters while some were beaten by pro-Putin vigilantes.

Video showed police carrying a struggling Navalny out of the square, holding him by the legs and arms.

According to the independent police-monitoring group OVD-Info, some 1,049 people have been detained nationwide in connection with the rally. In Moscow alone, the number of detainees is around 475.

Fifty-three protesters were reportedly detained in St. Petersburg.

It was unclear how many people were participating in the Moscow protest. Police said the crowd numbered some 1,500 people, but officials routinely downplay the size of opposition protests in Russia.

Under the slogan "He's not our tsar," Navalny had called on supporters to take to the streets on May 5 ahead of Putin's inauguration for a fourth presidential term to protest what the opposition leader says is Putin's autocratic rule.

Rallies were expected in up to 90 cities and towns on May 5, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, although few have received authorization from local officials.

Putin is due to be sworn in for his fourth term as Russia's president on May 7, extending an 18-year reign that his supporters say has lifted the country "from its knees" and is denounced by his opponents as a corrupt, calcifying authoritarian kleptocracy..

Navalny, who has organized large street protests and published numerous reports documenting alleged corruption among Russia's ruling elite, was barred from running in the March presidential election due to a conviction on financial-crimes charges he contends were fabricated.

Authorities in Moscow had warned Navalny supporters about taking part in the planned protest in the Russian capital, calling it "absolutely unlawful."

In Moscow, riot police detained some protesters, while men, in traditional Cossack dress, were seen beating some of the demonstrators as a police helicopter flew above the crowd.

Among the crowd on Pushkin Square were pockets of pro-Putin supporters, many of them young men.

Pro-Putin activists shouted "Our country, our rules" and "We are for Putin."

LIVE FEED: Build-Up To Moscow Protest (natural sound, Current Time TV)

Police with megaphones ordered protesters to disperse. Riot police in phalanxes contained protesters while other officers moved in to make detentions.

An unidentified protest organizer told the state news agency Interfax that about 140 people had been detained in Moscow.

Earlier, in the Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk, 35 people were detained following clashes between protesters and baton-wielding police.

In Yakutsk, 75 protesters were detained by police at the rally there, according to a Navalny supporter.

In Novokuznetsk, police detained 26 protesters taking part in the rally there.

Additionally, 164 were detained in Chelyabinsk and 63 in Tolyatti. Detentions were also reported in Kaluga, Samara, Barnaul, Penza, Blagoveshchensk, Kurgan, Tver, Yekaterinburg, and other cities.

On the eve of the protests, Navalny supporters were detained by police in several Russian cities including St. Petersburg, Krasnoyarsk, Krasnodar, Tambov, Kemerovo, and Cheboksary.

In Yekaterinburg, police searched Navalny’s regional headquarters and confiscated leaflets advertising the May 5 rally.

A coordinator for Navalny the southern city of Volgograd, Aleksei Volkov, wrote on Twitter that students at local schools were forced to sign papers acknowledging that they could face serious consequences, including expulsion, if they take part in the rally.

With reporting by RFE/RL’s Russian Service, Current Time TV, AFP,, Interfax. and Reuters