According to Associated Press Russian police arrested nearly 1,700 people Wednesday during a day of demonstrations throughout Russia calling for freedom for imprisoned opposition leader Alexei Navalny -> whose health reportedly is in severe decline after three weeks of hunger striking, according to a group that monitors political detentions.
Navalny’s team called for the unsanctioned demonstrations after weekend reports that his health is deteriorating and his life was in danger.
The largest of the protests happened in the City of Moscow, where thousands marched through the center area. Some of the people arrested were seized before the protests even began, including to top Navalny associates in Moscow.
Navalny’s organization called for the Moscow protesters to assemble on Manezh Square, just outside the Kremlin walls, but police blocked it off. Instead, a large crowd gathered at the nearby Russian State Library and another lined Tverskaya Street, a main avenue that leads to the square. Both groups then moved through the streets.
In St. Petersburg, police blocked off Palace Square, the vast space outside the Hermitage museum and protesters instead crowded along nearby Nevsky Prospekt.
Some said that there will be full coverage in Russia
Turnout estimates varied widely: Moscow police said 6,000 people demonstrated in the capital, while an observer told Navalny’s YouTube channel that the crowd was about 60,000.
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