The right to protest, like the free press, is not a thing in Putin’s Russia. It is, in fact, hazardous to your health to be part of the ‘opposition’.
Nearly 1,400 people were detained in a violent police crackdown on an opposition protest in Moscow, a Russian monitoring group said Sunday, adding that was the largest number of detentions at a rally in the Russian capital this decade.
Opposition leader Alexei Navalny was arrested and sentenced Wednesday to 30 days in jail for calling for Saturday's protest against election authorities who barred some opposition candidates from running in the Sept. 8 vote for Moscow city council.
Navalny was unexpectedly hospitalized Sunday with a severe allergy attack, his spokeswoman said.
Kira Yarmysh said Navalny, who did not have any allergies beforehand, was taken from the Moscow jail to a hospital in the morning, arriving with severe facial swelling and red rashes.
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Allergy attack. Right. Most people are ‘allergic’ to thugs with batons.
Lines of helmeted riot police tried to push back the protesters in Moscow, some of whom resisted physically. Demonstrators shouted slogans including "Russia will be free!"
Many videos and images posted to social media appear to show riot police strike protesters with batons. Some demonstrators reported injuries.
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In Russia, election tampering happens at home, too.
The decision by electoral authorities to bar some opposition candidates for having allegedly insufficient signatures on their nominating petitions already sparked several days of demonstrations even before Saturday.
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