Russian political opposition supporters were set to hold their fourth protest in as many weeks in central Moscow on Saturday after more than 1,600 people were detained at previous rallies.
Several thousand people indicated that they planned to attend the protest, which municipal authorities have allowed to take place on an easily contained street next to the Garden Ring highway that encircles the city centre.
The protest’s organisers – the team of tenacious opposition politician Alexei Navalny, currently incarcerated – have called for the participants to march out from the designated area, which would violate the city’s deal.
“I’m fairly sure that there will be mass arrests again.
“I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared at all. I know there’s a possibility of being arrested and it does worry me,” said Sveltana, 29, who plans to attend and agreed to comment on condition of anonymity.
The wave of protests was prompted by several prominent opposition politicians being rejected from the ballot for city council elections next month as required signatures for their candidacy have been declared invalid.
Two weeks ago more than 1,000 people were detained at a rally that began outside the mayor’s office.
That was the largest number of detentions at a Russian protest in the past decade, independent monitoring group OVD-Info told dpa.
The relatively high number of detentions reveals government concern that the protest movement could gain momentum, opposition supporters say.
“The government has clearly already felt affected,” Svetlana said
He added: “How else would you explain the degree of paranoia they’ve reached?” (dpa/NAN)
