Protests in Russia
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With lights and human chains against Putin
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On Valentine’s Day, followers of Navalny demonstrated in smaller groups. Here you can see a human chain of women under the motto “Love is stronger than fear”.
Photo: dpa / Alexander Zemlianichenko
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Moscow On Sunday, numerous Russians responded to the call by the imprisoned Kremlin critic Alexej Navalny to launch smaller protests against President Vladimir Putin.
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On the Arbat, the promenade in Moscow’s historic center, around 300 women lined up in a human chain in solidarity with Navalny’s wife Julia Navalnaya and arrested supporters of the 44-year-old. In the evening, citizens across the country set a sign with lights.
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The women on the Arbat had a long white ribbon in their hands. They came on Valentine’s Day to show that they were “for love and against violence,” said the 22-year-old student Darja Obraszowa of the AFP news agency. She added that she wanted Russia to have “freedom and justice”.
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In St. Petersburg, around a hundred women gathered in front of the monument to the victims of political repression, holding flowers in their hands and quoting poems by the popular poet Anna Akhmatova. “Only love can triumph over evil,” said Valeria Stepanova, 25. The new rallies are reminiscent of the women’s protests in neighboring Belarus against ruler Alexander Lukashenko.
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After the mass arrests at demonstrations of Nawalny’s supporters, his team had canceled all major rallies for the time being. Instead, it called for new and safer forms of protest on Sunday. Among other things, Nawalny’s supporters were supposed to hold their glowing mobile phones, flashlights or candles in the sky for 15 minutes in the evening and post pictures of them on online platforms.
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A video on Navalny’s website showed a block of flats with such lights in Tomsk, Siberia, and a treadmill read “Love is stronger than fear”. Pictures and videos from numerous cities across the country followed later.
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In St. Petersburg, too, Navalny supporters gathered in small groups that evening, some of them dancing and singing “Russia will be free”. The security forces threatened arrest again on Sunday, but apparently did not take any action initially.
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There were protests across Russia in January and early February against Navalny’s imprisonment and against President Putin. The authorities cracked down on the demonstrators with severity, and more than 10,000 people were arrested.
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Navalny was treated in Germany last year after a poison attack for which he blames the Russian government. When he returned to Moscow in January, he was immediately arrested.
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