Thousands of people turned out in cities across Russia on Sunday to demand the release of detained opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Police have arrested more than 500 demonstrators so far, according to monitoring group OVD-Info.
The first protests kicked off in the far east, where police in the city of Vladivostok blocked protesters from reaching the centre. Video footage showed people linking hands and chanting “Putin is a thief” as they gathered in temperatures of around minus 13 degrees Celsius.
Clashes broke out between police and protesters in the central city of Chelyabinsk, according to local media reports.
Also read: Russian Police Detain Kremlin Critic Alexei Navalny on Arrival at Airport
Meanwhile, in the capital, Moscow, police closed off Lubyanka square near the Kremlin where protesters had planned to gather later in the day.
Thousands of people were arrested a week ago during nationwide demonstrations in support of Navalny, who was arrested on January 17 after returning from Germany. The outspoken Kremlin critic was poisoned with the nerve agent Novichok in Siberia last summer and had been receiving treatment in Berlin.
Warnings from authorities
Police have warned that Sunday’s planned rallies are illegal and will be broken up.
Authorities ordered seven metro stations in the centre of Moscow to be shut, while several streets around the seat of the government in the Kremlin were blocked off.
Police also asked Moscow cafes to turn off their internet connections ahead of the protests.
Law enforcement officers detain a man during a rally in support of jailed Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny in Vladivostok, January 31, 2021. Photo: Reuters/Yuri Maltsev
The measures mark an attempt to reduce the possible routes and communication methods of protesters in the capital. Russian authorities are trying to prevent the demonstrations and reduce the number of people taking to the streets.
The US embassy in Moscow warned Americans of the possibility of being arrested, listing the exact meeting place and times of the demonstrations, in a move which angered the Russian Foreign Ministry.
Last week, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators protested in support of Navalny. A record 4,002 people were arrested for their involvement in the protests.
Navalny, 44, was immediately arrested upon his arrival in Moscow earlier this month and sentenced to pretrial detention.
His brother was also sentenced to two months of house arrest on Friday for violating coronavirus regulations during last weekend’s mass demonstrations.