Moscow Police Detain Opposition Politicians

7/14/19
One by one, opposition politicians who say the authorities are trying to remove them from the ballot for elections to Moscow’s city legislature this September climbed onto a ledge on City Hall Sunday afternoon and addressed around 2,000 protestors who had gathered to support them. The protest was the latest in a rising tide of civil unrest across Russia sparked by dissatisfaction over declining living standards that has led to falling ratings for Russian President Vladimir Putin and the ruling United Russia party. The organizers have called for another demonstration on Monday evening. “We demand that the opposition be included in these elections and that citizens be given the right to a real vote and an alternative,” opposition candidate Ilya Yashin yelled from the ledge to a roar from the crowd in central Moscow.

According to the police monitoring group OVD Info, at least 38 people were detained, including Yashin and opposition leader Alexei Navalny allies Lyubov Sobol and Ivan Zhdanov. Police tried to block the protesters when they reached the election commission building, but the crowd pushed through and then gathered outside the closed door, demanding that the commission’s head, Valentin Gorbunov, hear their demands. Gorbunov’s representative told Yashin that Gorbunov was at his summer house outside the city for the weekend and wouldn’t meet with protesters. But the protesters didn't want to let up. Before police cleared them away from the building, they had posted on social media, asking for supporters to come with water, food, mats and tents so they could spend the night until Gorbunov returned. “How can we change the Kremlin if we can’t even influence government at the local level?” said Anna Sizova, 22, a student at the Higher School of Economics. “We have to start with the local parliament first.”

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