Moscow, Sunday
Russian police arrested almost 1,400 people as they gathered in Moscow at the weekend to demand free and fair elections, a monitor said, the biggest crackdown on a rally in the country in years.
Some 3,500 people took part in the unauthorised protest Yesterday, according to official figures, after authorities blocked prominent opposition candidates from taking part in city elections.
Declining standards
The rally comes amid wider public frustration over declining living standards that has hit President Vladimir Putin’s approval ratings.
A week before, 22,000 took to the streets in a sanctioned protest, calling on authorities to reverse their decision ahead of the September vote.
After that demonstration, investigators raided the homes and headquarters of a number of disqualified candidates. Top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was jailed for 30 days for calling the fresh protest.
Navalny today was taken to hospital from jail after suffering what his press secretary said was a “severe allergic reaction”, despite having never suffered from allergies.
Leonid Volkov, an ally of Navalny, said he had a similar allergic reaction after serving time last month in the same jail. But he suggested hygiene conditions rather than a “conspiracy” was to blame. Several would-be candidates were detained before or during the protest. -AFP
