Russia arrests over 350 protesters rallying for Navalny’s release

Thousands of supporters of Russia’s jailed opposition figure Alexei Navalny rallied in Moscow and other cities on Saturday, answering his call for nationwide protests against President Vladimir Putin’s rule.

Demonstrators gathered at Moscow’s central Pushkin Square and nearby streets despite a heavy police presence and detentions, holding signs that read “Russia will be free” and chanting “Putin is a thief.”

Some then marched towards the Kremlin, while others blocked Tverskaya Street, the Russian capital’s main thoroughfare.

Yulia Navalnaya, Navalny’s wife, wrote on Instagram that she had been detained at the Moscow rally, sharing a photo from inside a police van.

More than 350 people were detained in protests in the Far East and Siberia, according to the arrests-monitoring group OVD-Info.

Several thousand people turned out for a protest in Yekaterinburg, Russia’s fourth-largest city, and demonstrations took place in the Pacific port city of Vladivostok, the island city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, and the country’s third-largest city of Novosibirsk, among other locations.