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Agence France-Presse

Almost 50,000 opposition supporters rallied in Moscow on Saturday after mass police detentions at recent protests that have been among the largest since President Vladimir Putin’s return to the Kremlin in 2012.
On a rainy afternoon, protesters huddled under umbrellas on the central Prospekt Andreya Sakharova street, where city authorities had given permission for the rally to take place.
The White Counter, an NGO that tracks participants in rallies, counted 49,900 people, while Moscow police gave a much lower attendance figure of 20,000.
In recent weeks, thousands have attended street protests calling for free and fair elections after the exclusion of several opposition figures, including allies of top Putin critic Alexei Navalny, from local Moscow polls next month.
Russia tries to take baby away from couple who attended rally
Riot police and the national guard detained more than 2,000 at the previous two rallies, which were not authorised by city officials.
On Saturday, some protesters carried placards with slogans such as “Give us the right to vote!” and “You’ve lied to us enough” while others held up pictures of activists arrested at earlier demonstrations.

Most opposition candidates who have been banned from taking part in the vote have been jailed for violating protest laws.
A dozen protesters, including university students face criminal charges of “mass disorder” that risk lengthy prison terms, despite their supporters insisting protests were peaceful.
Saturday’s rally was authorised, meaning participants should not face detention. But Navalny, who is currently in jail, urged supporters to walk peacefully through the city afterwards, when they will risk detention for illegal protests.
“After the demonstration we’re going for a walk round Moscow,” his team wrote on social media on Saturday.
Moscow police and the powerful Investigative Committee issued a warning against taking part in unsanctioned protests, which it said would be “immediately halted.”

“They need blood,” pro-Kremlin tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda wrote of the opposition on Saturday, quoting several celebrities warning against taking part in unauthorised protests.
Showing the movement’s appeal to young Russians, popular rapper Face performed on stage, saying: “I’m performing here today so that my people have freedom and the right to choose.”
One of Russia’s most famous rappers, Oxxxymiron, posed at the rally wearing a T-shirt with a photo of one of jailed students, Yegor Zhukov.
The latest demonstration came as the authorities this week mounted their harshest attack yet on Navalny’s team, focusing on his anti-corruption foundation which publishes investigations of officials close to Putin.
On Thursday, investigators raided the foundation’s office as part of a probe into alleged acceptance of donations of laundered money and a court froze the foundation’s accounts.

“This is the most aggressive attempt yet to gag us,” Navalny wrote in a blog entry he issued through lawyers while serving a 30-day sentence.
Police on Saturday detained Lyubov Sobol, one of the city council candidates denied a place on the ballot and a spearhead of the election protest.
“These are all acts of political intimidation, political repression,” she told journalists on Friday, condemning the criminal cases launched against activists as “fabricated and politically motivated”.
As he enters his third decade in power, Putin’s approval ratings have dropped significantly in recent months and critics say the authorities fear any outlet calling for wider political change.
“The repressive scenario that the authorities are relying on can probably dampen down open discontent but is hardly likely to reach the root of the problem,” Vedomosti daily wrote in an editorial.
“A large section of society is not represented in power.”


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Russia

Thousands rally in Moscow for fair elections after opposition crackdown

Protesters attend a rally in Moscow. Photo: AFP

Protesters holds a poster reading "Free (jailed student) Kirill Zhukov!" during a rally in central Moscow on August 10, 2019 after mass police detentions. - Thousands of opposition supporters rallied in Moscow on August 10 after mass police detentions at recent protests that have been among the largest since President's return to the Kremlin in 2012. On a rainy afternoon, protesters huddled under umbrellas on the central Prospekt Andreya Sakharova street, where city authorities had given permission for the rally to take place. (Photo by Yuri KADOBNOV / AFP)

Participants attend a rally to demand authorities allow opposition candidates to run in the upcoming local election in Moscow, Russia August 10, 2019. REUTERS/Evgenia Novozhenina

Protesters attend a rally in central Moscow on August 10, 2019 after mass police detentions. - Thousands of opposition supporters rallied in Moscow on August 10 after mass police detentions at recent protests that have been among the largest since President's return to the Kremlin in 2012. On a rainy afternoon, protesters huddled under umbrellas on the central Prospekt Andreya Sakharova street, where city authorities had given permission for the rally to take place. (Photo by Yuri KADOBNOV / AFP)

Russia: Vladimir Putin’s 20 years on the global stage

Russian President Vladimir Putin holds a pistol during his visit to a newly-built headquarters of the Russian General Staff's Main Intelligence Department (GRU) in Moscow in 2006. File photo: AFP

(FILES) In this file photo taken on April 06, 2000 Russian President Vladimir Putin (L) wears a navy officer's uniform while watching the tactical exercises of the Northern Fleet in the Barentsevo Sea from the "Karelia" nuclear submarine. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by - / POOL / AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) takes part in a judo training session during a meeting with Russian national judo team in Moscow on January 8, 2016. / AFP / SPUTNIK / ALEKSEY NIKOLSKY

(FILES) In this file photo taken on July 24, 2010 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides Harley Davidson Lehman Trike as he leaves the meeting with motorbikers at their camp at Gasfort Lake near Sevastopol in Ukraine's Crimea Peninsula. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO / POOL / AFP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 16, 2005 Russian President Vladimir Putin poses for a picture inside the Tupolev-160 strategic bomber jet at the Olenogorsk military airport, near Murmansk. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by VLADIMIR RADIONOV / ITAR-TASS / AFP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on September 19, 2018 Russian President Vladimir Putin looks through the scope as he shoots a Chukavin sniper rifle (SVC-380) during a visit to the military Patriot Park in Kubinka, outside Moscow. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by Alexey NIKOLSKY / SPUTNIK / AFP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 30, 2015 Russia’s President Vladimir Putin works out at a gym at the Bocharov Ruchei state residence in Sochi. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV / SPUTNIK / AFP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 19, 1999 Russian President Boris Yeltsin (R) shakes hands with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin during their meeting in Moscow's Kremlin. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by Elmira KOZHAYEVA / ITAR-TASS POOL / AFP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 05, 2009 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin swims the butterfly during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by ALEXEY DRUZHININ / SPUTNIK / AFP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on August 03, 2009 Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin rides a horse during his vacation outside the town of Kyzyl in Southern Siberia. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by ALEXEY DRUZHININ / SPUTNIK / AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin, centre, sits on board a bathyscaphe as it plunges into the Black sea along the coast of Sevastopol, Crimea, Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2015. President Vladimir Putin plunged into the Black Sea to see the wreckage of a sunk ancient merchant ship which was found in the end of May. (Alexei Nikolsky/RIA-Novosti, Kremlin Pool Photo via AP)

(FILES) In this file photo taken on May 16, 2015 Russia's President Vladimir Putin smiles during an ice hockey match as part of the Night Hockey league tournament in Sochi. - Twenty years ago on Friday, Russian president Boris Yeltsin appointed his fourth prime minister in less than 18 months: Vladimir Putin, then a relatively unknown security services chief with scant experience of politics. (Photo by Alexey NIKOLSKY / SPUTNIK / AFP)

Russian President Vladimir Putin in 2005. File photo: AFP

Russia tries to take baby away from couple who brought child to opposition rally in Moscow

Police officers detain a protester during an unsanctioned rally in Moscow on Saturday. Photo: AP

A woman stands near members of the Russian national guard during a rally against the exclusion of opposition candidates from local polls in Moscow, Russia, on Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019. Confrontation over the municipal polls in Moscow comes as President Vladimir Putin grapples with plunging popular support amid a prolonged economic malaise that’s driven down real incomes for the past five years. Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/Bloomberg

Police block a street during an unsanctioned rally in the center of Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Aug. 3, 2019. Russian group says at least 600 people arrested at unsanctioned election protest in Moscow. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

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Police detained Lyubov Sobol, one of the city council candidates denied a place on the ballot and a spearhead of the protest
The White Counter, an NGO that tracks participants in rallies, counted 49,900 people at the demonstration



Police detained Lyubov Sobol, one of the city council candidates denied a place on the ballot and a spearhead of the protest.


Vladimir Putin