«And there is it people?»: across Russia, a wave of protests, 893 people arrested

On 9 September in many cities of the Russian Federation held protests against pension reform. The participants of these protests were met with stiff resistance from the police because they were «unauthorized». The human rights platform «ATS-inform» says that across the country arrested nearly 900 people. People started to protest after a famous Russian oppositionist Alexey Navalny called on the population to take to the streets to demonstrate their opposition to the authorities with the pension reform.

«And there is it people?»: across Russia, a wave of protests, 893 people arrested
Among the detainees listed 9-year-old child. Photo: Valentin Egorshin

A few days before that, the Russian law enforcement bodies have detained active workers of a staff of Navalny, intending to stop the impending action. However, this did not protect authorities against unauthorized demonstrations. Supporters of Navalny was elected on 9 September is no accident. On this day in many cities held elections of local deputies, mayors and governors.

Most notable was the action in St. Petersburg. Activists gathered near Lenin square, which by their arrival has been surrounded by a large number of security forces. With increasing numbers of protesters, the police became more aggressive. First began to pull out from crowd of the people, unfurled banners reading «Putin, where is our money?» «Pay pensions, not build palaces.» Then the riot police surrounded the protesters, who in turn, tried to break this blockade. Clashes and mass arrests.

«And there is it people?»: across Russia, a wave of protests, 893 people arrested
People started to protest after a famous Russian oppositionist Alexey Navalny called on the population to take to the streets. Photo: youtube

16:00 Russian security forces have arrested more than 80 people. Among them – 9-year-old child and a man dressed as a knight. At some point, protesters surrounded from both sides, after which riot police began to act tough. People were beaten, dragged into buses and were not allowed to leave the closed territory. Activists soon realized that it is useless to resist and began to Board the transport. At this moment the journalist of the edition «jellyfish» asked the policeman present there, where you’re lucky detainees. In response, she heard only one phrase: «And there is people?«.

In addition to ordinary Russians and the staff of the headquarters of Alexei Navalny, the police also detained journalists. Mass protests were also held in Moscow and Yekaterinburg. In other cities, the rallies were not so numerous, however, and there were no arrests. According to «ATS-inform», Saint-Petersburg arrested 354 individuals in Yekaterinburg – 129, and in the capital – 36. The rest of the city is 374 detained protesters.

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