Protesters held banners demanding Furgal’s freedom and chanted “I, you, he and she – the entire country is for Furgal”.“Though I’m almost 70, I worry sincerely about my region, about Russia and our nation, about Furgal and freedom. I want us to be free,” Alla Sokolova, a protester in Khabarovsk, told the AP.Litvinova reported from Moscow.Furgal, the Khabarovsk region governor, was arrested on July 9 and flown to Moscow where he was put in jail for two months. Demonstrators shouted slogans including "Russia will be free! Russian police wielding batons wrestled with demonstrators and arrested hundreds of people in central Moscow on Saturday at a protest demanding … KHABAROVSK, Russia (AP) — Mass rallies challenging the Kremlin rocked Russia’s Far East city of Khabarovsk again on Saturday, as tens of thousands took to the streets to protest the arrest of the region’s governor on charges of involvement in … Police presence was heavy at the mayor's office on Tverskaya Street, one of Moscow's main thoroughfares, with police trucks and buses parked in the building's courtyard and other buses positioned nearby to take detainees away.Be in the know. Protesters demanded that Furgal’s trial be moved to Khabarovsk, with one saying “we have elected him and it’s up to us to judge him.” Some questioned the timing of the arrest, pointing to Furgal’s decade-long stint as a lawmaker in the Russian parliament before running for governor, during which the murder charges never came up.Smaller rallies in support of Furgal also took place Saturday in Komsomolsk-on-Amur, another big city in the Khabarovsk region, and in the city of Vladivostok in the neighboring Primorye region.“Furgal became a political symbol for the residents of the region, and all accusations — no matter how grave — are from another, non-political dimension,” political analyst Abbas Gallyamov said in a Facebook post. He was sentenced to 30 days in jail. Khabarovsk residents dismissed the charges against him as unsubstantiated and denounced the Kremlin for targeting a governor they elected.“It’s not only about this (whether Furgal arrest is legal or not).
Earlier, National Urban League president and former New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial appeared on CNN, where he suggested that the riots in Minneapolis – now in their fourth day – were provoked by Russian agents and “white supremacists.”. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov called the situation “not standard” this week. People are fed up with the way we are treated, that they can simply take away our choice,” protester Mikhail Yerashchenko told The Associated Press on Saturday.During his two years in office, Furgal earned a reputation of being “the people’s governor.” He cut his own salary, ordered the sale of an expensive yacht that the previous administration bought, met with protesters when rallies happened and significantly reduced flight fares for residents in remote areas.A member of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party, Furgal was elected governor in 2018, defeating the Kremlin-backed incumbent. Russia’s Investigative Committee says he is suspected of involvement in several murders of businessmen in 2004 and 2005.Last Saturday, crowds of reportedly up to 35,000 people rallied in Khabarovsk. All of its seats, which have a five-year-term, are up for election on Sept. 8.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.Before the protest, several opposition members and aspiring candidates were detained throughout the city, including Ilya Yashin, Dmitry Gudkov and top Navalny associate Ivan Zhdanov.Copyright © 2020 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved.Many videos and images posted to social media appear to show riot police strike protesters with batons.
Tens of thousands stage protests in Russia's Far East against Kremlin Gulf Today 09:50 18-Jul-20 Thousands In Khabarovsk Protest Arrest Of Russian Governor Radio Free Europe 09:45 18-Jul-20 Tens of Thousands Stage Anti-Kremlin Protests in Russia's Far East The Moscow Times 09:42 18-Jul-20 Opposition activists estimated that … Earlier in the week, authorities arrested one of the most prominent leaders of the opposition, Alexei Navalny, who had called for today's protest. The dispute comes as the Kremlin is struggling with how to deal with strongly opposing views in its sprawling capital of 12.6 million people.The crowd appeared to number several thousand people, but there was no official estimate of its size. There was no immediate information on what charges the detainees might face. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/11/world/europe/russia-protests-putin.html Get the latest breaking news delivered straight to your inbox.State news agencies Tass and RIA-Novosti cited police as saying 1,074 people had been arrested. His victory was unexpected: Furgal didn’t actively campaign and toed the Kremlin’s line, publicly supporting his rival.KHABAROVSK, Russia (AP) — Mass rallies challenging the Kremlin rocked Russia’s Far East city of Khabarovsk again on Saturday, as tens of thousands took to the streets to protest the arrest of the region’s governor on charges of involvement in multiple murders.People voted for him nonetheless, delivering a humiliating blow to the main Kremlin party, United Russia, that has been losing seats in regional governments over the past two years.The unauthorized protests are the largest ever in Khabarovsk, a city of 590,000.