Alexei Navalny's supporters carried out a protest acrossRussia in his support and they demanded the release of prime opponent andcritic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
As per reports published in BBC, over 3,000 people havebeen detained by the police. Although European Union and United States havedemanded release of Navalny but Russia turned a Nelson's eye towards all thesedemands.
Police and Russian authorities had already cautioned theprotesters against gathering in large numbers. Riot police had beaten anddragged away the protesters in Moscow, as per report published in BBC.
Navalny was detained after he returned to Russia fromBerlin where he recovered from a nerve agent attack or a poisoning attack inRussia last August. After taking him into custody, he was charged withviolating parole conditions.
Navalny alleges that it is a plot to kill him or silencehi, OVD Info is an independent Non Governmental Organization that monitors therallies. OVD Info said that over 3,100 people had been detained and more than1,200 of these protesters were detained in Moscow alone.
Whatdid the protestors say?
As per data in the media, around 100 cities and towns ofRussia participated in the protest and 40,000 people joined a rally in thecentral Moscow, according to the estimates of Reuters news agency.
It is also touted as the largest protest in the capitalin almost a decade. Some protesters were heard as chanding "Freedom toNavalny" and "Putin go away!" in the city's Pushkin square.
Another protester Sergei Radchenko was quoted by BBC assaying, "I'm tired of being afraid. I haven't just turned up for myselfand Navalny, but for my son because there is no future in this country."
Navalny'w wife was also detained at the rally. Meanwhile,the media watchdog Roskomnadzor in Russia threaten to fine media platforms ifthey don't remove the content that purportedly encourage minors to be the partof protests.
TikTokand YouTube are major platforms where protesters aresharing content. As per media reports, TikTok has deleted around 30% of thecontent flagged by Russian administration related to the protests while YouTubehas deleted 50% of the content flagged by them.