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Sputnik Pavel Bednyakov
Russian security services continue to deal with unauthorized demonstrations of limited numbers now taking place in the center of the capital, Moscow, at the invitation of opposition activist Alexei Navalny.
The Ministry of the Interior estimated the number of participants in the demonstration in the center of the capital at about two thousand.
The protesters moved to several locations in the center of the capital, including the prison where Navalny is currently staying, and police made arrests.
Among those arrested by the police during the flow of protesters towards the prison was the wife of the detained activist, Julia Navalnaya.
The demonstrations were virtually free of violent incidents, but they were not without instances of provocation by Navalny’s supporters to the police.
Earlier in the day, the Ombudsman in Moscow, Tatyana Butiyeva, announced to “Novosti” agency that at least 120 people have so far been arrested in connection with the demonstrations in the city, while sources loyal to Navalny talk about more than a thousand detainees.
The agency also reported arrests during an unauthorized demonstration in Saint Petersburg, the country’s second largest city.
The Moscow and Saint Petersburg authorities took concrete security measures before today’s demonstrations, including imposing restrictions on movement in the two cities and closing the Winter Palace in central Petersburg.
Today’s demonstrations are taking place in Russia with the participation of far fewer protesters compared to the first round of protests in the country on October 23.
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These demonstrations are taking place despite the authorities ’warnings against heeding the appeal of Navalny, who is still in prison for violating the terms of suspending the prison sentence issued against him previously for embezzlement, since his return in early January to Russia from Germany, to which he was transferred in August after being allegedly poisoned.
Source: TASS + Novosti
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