Moscow will hold its city council elections on Sunday, a normally little-noticed vote that this year has sparked a summer of protests in the Russian capital.
In mid-July, election authorities refused to register a group of opposition candidates, among them some of Russia’s best-known activists. Since then, on most Saturdays over the last month, a scene has played out in Moscow’s city center: Several thousand demonstrators attempt to gather, demanding fair elections, only to be violently confronted by riot police who arrest them en masse.
While President Vladimir Putin remains popular, his ruling party, United Russia has become toxic. A poll by the state-run VTsIOM agency in May found that only 22% of Muscovites would vote for it. “Elections where our normal candidates aren’t allowed to run will always be unpleasant. But even such elections can be used to deliver a blow against the authorities,” Navalny wrote on his blog.
Hundreds of heavily-armored police wearing masks and wielding clubs have marched on demonstrators, seemingly arresting people almost at random. On July 27 and Aug. 3, well over a thousand people were detained each day. The crackdown has had the effect of fueling the protests, which initially attracted several thousand people. When authorities authorized a protest after two weekends of mass arrests, 60,000 people joined -- the largest anti-Kremlin rally in eight years.
There also seems to have been a change in the protesters, many of whom no longer seem to fear arrest and the typical 15- to 30-day jail sentence and fine.
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