Khodorkovsky’s Open Russia holds protests across country

About 150 people attempted to participate in an unsanctioned demonstration outside a metro station in northern St. Petersburg, local authorities have reported. After repeated police warnings some dispersed voluntarily, but about 100 people stayed, police said in a statement. It added that police were forced to “put an end to the illegal gathering.” Ruptly video footage shows that multiple attendees were detained.

About 60 people gathered for a demonstration in the city of Krasnodar in southern Russia, a local branch of Interior Ministry said, as cited by Interfax.

“The event was peaceful; there have been no violations of public order,” an official from the ministry said.

A protest also took place in Siberia in the city of Tomsk.

Some 80 people took part in an Open Russia rally in the Urals’ city of Ufa, an official from the local branch of Interior Ministry told Interfax.

Open Russia activists in the Urals also joined a rally in the city of Ekaterinburg.

Some 250 people gathered for Open Russia’s unauthorized rally in Moscow, the Russian Interior Ministry’s press service reported.

“This public event is being held in violation of Federal Law number 54, as it wasn’t agreed to with St. Petersburg’s authorities,” a police officer was repeatedly heard telling protesters in St. Petersburg via loudspeakers.

A rally organized by Open Russia was held in the city of Cheboksary in the southeastern part of European Russia.

An official from a local branch of the Interior Ministry told Interfax that some 40 people took part in the rally.

Another rally organized by Open Russia was held in the city of Cheboksary in the southeastern part of European Russia.