Thousands of protesters were detained in Russia on Sunday, as demonstrations erupted across the country in support of detained opposition leader Alexey Navalny.
At least 5,045 people were detained, with more than 1,600 in Moscow alone. That marks a record-high in detentions since 2011, when OVD-Info, an independent site that monitors arrests, started recording such figures.
Among those detained on Sunday was Navalny’s wife, Yulia Navalnaya, who was later released.
Navalny’s team has said that the “next stop” for demonstrations will be on Tuesday, when a Moscow court considers Navalny’s case on fraud charges and establishes whether his suspended sentence should be replaced with a real jail term.
“Today’s protest is over, but we continue to fight for Alexey Navalny’s freedom,” the team posted on their Telegram channel at 6:20 p.m. local time.
Navalny was detained on January 17, moments after arriving in Moscow, following months of treatment in Germany after being poisoned in August 2020 with nerve agent Novichok. He blamed the poisoning on the Russian government, an allegation the Kremlin has repeatedly denied.
Earlier on Sunday, supporters of Navalny said they were planning protests in at least 120 cities across the vast country, starting at noon local time in each location.
Protesters in Moscow planned to march down to the Matrosskaya Tishina detention center where Navalny is being held in custody. Local authorities were closing metro stops one after another leading up to the detention center in the city’s northeastern Sokolniki neighborhood.
Before her reported detention, Navalnaya posted a picture on Instagram showing her taking part in a protest in the area.
“It’s great in Sokolniki today!” Navalnaya said in the caption, alongside a photo showing her, hands raised, followed by a column of people.
Navalnaya was detained “during a peaceful walk” by police officers who did not identify themselves or provide any reason for the detention, according to Vyacheslav Gimadi, head of the legal department of Navalny’s Anti-Corruption Foundation (FBK). She has since been released, Grimadi said.
Live video feeds and social media videos Sunday showed crowds of people gathering in a number of cities, chanting “Putin is a thief,” in reference to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
In the Russian city of Novosibirsk, in Siberia, live video showed police detaining drivers who were honking their car horns in support of the protesters. In response, demonstrators were heard chanting: “Let them go!”
People could be seen with their elbows linked, forming chains, chanting “Freedom!” and “Give back our money!” as they stood in front of the city hall in the center of Novosibirsk. Rows of riot police were standing in front of them.
Protesters marching along the snowy streets could be heard chanting: “Russia without Putin!” and “one for all, and all for one.”
Russia’s Ministry of Internal Affairs earlier warned Russian citizens not to take part in the “unauthorized” protests.
“The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia calls on citizens to refrain from participating in unauthorized protests,” the ministry said in an Instagram post.
Russian federal law requires organizers to file an appeal with local authorities at least 10 days in advance to obtain permission to hold a protest.
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