Aleksei Navalny Protests: *Live Updates as Russia Faces Biggest Rallies in Years

[Budi]

This discussion thread was locked as off-topic by Omaha Steve (a host of the Latest Breaking News forum).

Source: The New York Times

LIVE UPDATES

Updated
Jan. 23, 2021, 2:15 p.m. ET *36 minutes ago

Aleksei Navalny Protests:
Live Updates as Russia Faces Biggest Rallies in Years
Demonstrations in support of the jailed opposition leader swept the country, beginning in the Far East, where people braved minus-60 degree temperatures.
Arrests climbed into the thousands.



Here’s what you need to know:
*Braving bitter cold and attempts at intimidation, protests unfold across Russia.
*Driving the protests is the demand that Navalny is released from jail.
*The police and protesters clash in several cities, with reports of more than 2,500 people detained.
*Videos of remarkable defiance spread on social media.
*Protests in the Putin era are met with heavy-handed repression.
*Does Navalny pose a threat to Putin’s rule?
*Voices in the crowd: Protesters explain why they joined the demonstrations.

Braving bitter cold and attempts at intimidation, protests unfold across Russia.
From the frozen streets of Russia’s Far East and Siberia to the grand plazas of Moscow and St. Petersburg, tens of thousands of Russians rallied in support of the jailed opposition leader Aleksei A. Navalny on Saturday in the biggest nationwide showdown in years between the Russian authorities and critics of the Kremlin.

The protests largely drew young Russians and did not immediately pose a dire threat to President Vladimir V. Putin’s grip on power. But their broad scope signaled widespread fatigue with the stagnant, corruption-plagued political order that Mr. Putin has presided over for two decades.
More...

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/23/world/europe/navalny-protests-russia.html

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Free & Fair Elections
Democracy over Authoritarian rule

We protest & march for the same reasons around the world

[byronius]

1. Go Russia go Russia go.

May he find nowhere safe. May they both find nowhere safe to hide. May the sun shine again on the future of the world.

[Budi]

2. Also from BBC News: Pics, Current story, Videos, Interviews

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-europe-55778334

SNIP
"OVD Info, an independent NGO that monitors rallies, said about 2,500 people had been detained, more than 900 of them in Moscow alone. The Kremlin has not commented.

Protester: 'I'm tired of being afraid'
The unauthorised demonstrations were held from Russia's Far East and Siberia to Moscow and St Petersburg. Protesters ranged from teenage students to elderly people who demanded Mr Navalny's release.

At least 40,000 people joined a rally in central Moscow, Reuters news agency estimated. Observers say this was the largest protest in the capital since the demonstrations of 2019. But Russia's interior ministry put the number of protesters at 4,000."
MORE...
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Mr Navalny's wife, Yulia, was briefly held at the rally. She posted an image on her Instagram account with the caption: "Apologies for the poor quality. Very bad light in the police van."
https://www.instagram.com/p/CKYye2qFQ5v/

[dalton99a]

3. .

Link to tweet

[Budi]

4. There are some great pics & vids at that link!

Link to tweet

Remarkably, there once were (& still are) Regimes where such protests would never be known & documented to the world if not for a phone with a camera, telling a story.

[JPK]

19. The greatest threat to authoritarians...

Cell phones with cameras in every citizen's hands.

[AntiFascist]

5. Putin needs a taste of his own medicine! n/t

[Budi]

6. Yes he does. He sat & watched with pleasure as his handiwork played out in America.

Democracy survived here & we wish the same for the people of Russia. May they have their hard-fought-for Democracy someday as well.

I hope thrre is something President Biden can do with the powers he now has, to assist in bringing that about.

[Evolve Dammit]

7. Please overthrow the KGB cabal. I really feel for the people of Russia. Putin's strangled them

for decades. They need U.S./ NATO support now.

[HUAJIAO]

8. The KGB hasn't been in existence since 1991.

It's successor is, partially, The Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation, which is responsible for domestic 'security.' FSB for short

The foreign department is The Foreign Intelligence Service of the Russian Federation. SVR for short.

But the same wily bastards....


Just thought to clear it up.

[Budi]

9. True, but Vladimer Putin is a student of that old KGB.

Hard to shake that ideology when its still running thru the veins.

[HUAJIAO]

10. Absolutely right.....

[onetexan]

12. Putin is a communist dictator, no doubt about it. His FSB is no different than the old KGB. He's

resurrecting Stalinist rule and have set himself up as a permanent despot.

[bullimiami]

17. he's no communist. he operates a fascist oligarchy. a fascist dictator of a once communist country.

"communist party" label means nothing.

[Budi]

11. Here's a protest Pic 😬

Link to tweet

[onetexan]

13. Wow that is incredible. Goes to show the unshakable will of people for democracy.

[Joinfortmill]

14. I hope they can someday bring Putin and cronies down.

[Ford_Prefect]

15. Uh, Vladi. I think your slip is showing...

[bullimiami]

16. it would be great to see russians out from under this oppressive crook. they deserve better.

rid of trump, rid of putin. that would really be a year to remember.

[C Moon]

18. Russia arrests 1000s for merely protesting;

Our FBI and DOJ don't want to arrest those who tried overthrow our government, because it will overload the courts.
We'd BETTER arrest and charge every last one of those who attempted to interrupt our system of government.

[mountain grammy]

20. Agree!

[BootinUp]

21. K&R

[Omaha Steve]

22. After a review by forum hosts....LOCKING

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