We won’t give up battle for fair elections, say Russia protesters

 
Defiant: opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who was freed early today
Will Stewart7 March 2012

Protesters in Moscow today vowed to maintain their challenge to newly-elected Vladimir Putin.

Riot police broke up a rally last night, provoking outrage from opposition leaders who claimed harsh and “illegal” tactics were used to make hundreds of arrests.

“Tens of thousands will be coming out on the streets of Moscow and other cities and refusing to leave,” said anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny, unofficial leader of many of the demonstrators against the alleged rigging of Sunday’s presidential poll.

Like most, Mr Navalny was released early today but several leading figures face short jail terms after a bid to begin a permanent protest in Pushkin Square was thwarted by riot police.

“Events at Pushkin Square broke the tradition of the recent peaceful protest rallies in the country,” said tycoon Mikhail Prokhorov, who came third in the election.” Former deputy premier Boris Nemtsov said: “We shall continue our peaceful struggle for honest elections.”

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in