MOSCOW – The Moscow police plan to stifle an opposition protest by clamping down on the center of the city backfired — not only did the massive demonstration take place, but it was spread throughout a wide swath of the city.
Moscow police always come out strong for unauthorized protest gatherings, but the plan for Sunday's demonstration demanding freedom for jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny was especially anathema symbolically.
It was to start on Lubyanka Square, where the Federal Security Service that Navalny accuses of poisoning him is headquartered, then march a half-kilometer to the presidential administration building, about as close to the levers of power that a protester could get without breaching the Kremlin’s walls.