On January 28, supporters of the politician Alexey Navalny held the all-Russian action "Strike of voters". «7x7» followed the event in different regions.
Oryol
Moscow communist Andrey Klychkov became head of the Oryol region in late 2017. Human rights activist Dmitry Krayukhin called him "a former oppositionist" and drew attention to the fact that the administration did not coordinate the protest action of Navalny’s supporters by offering a rally in the Khimmashevsky forest. In his blog, he also wrote that instead of a rally, civil activists organized a series of single pickets, joined by more than 150 people.
Arkhangelsk
A rally of "strikers" in Arkhangelsk was not coordinated, so they joined the event "Snow Fun" in the designated place. Supporters of Navalny did a circle dance around the police car with four detained comrades (one minor among them). The local action leader Drevarkh wearing wings attended the event on skis.
Kirov
Kirov activists were going to hold a meeting in the square named after Stepan Khalturin, but the police suddenly started searching for a bomb there and did not let the protesters in. Later the police carried the object that was supposedly a bomb through the crowd. On January 25, two activists of the local headquarter of Navalny were arrested, they missed the action, and on the morning of January 28, the coordinator of the headquarter was detained. The police seized the computer in the printing office, which printed leaflets for supporters of Navalny. Left without the organizers of the action, activists still held the event and urged the people of Kirov to refuse voting.
Yoshkar-Ola
Supporters of Navalny filed 20 notifications, but a rally in Yoshkar-Ola was still not coordinated. Therefore, the activists had to hold single pickets. More than 50 people came to support them. An activist of the local unregistered Libertarian Party of Russia, which does not support Navalny's economic program, but supports his political undertakings, also held a single picket. Officer of the Ministry of Justice of Mari El, who did not coordinate applications for the rally, filmed a picket and listened to complaints of the gathered.
Yaroslavl
At the Yaroslavl rally, activists noticed an unusual car with a camera next to the stage, and suggested that it had a built-in face recognition system. Anton Scheinin, coordinator of the movement "Golos", called on the audience to register as election observers. The police estimated 230 people. One person was detained right on the way to the rally, since he came to the event with a bulb — a device for smoking various mixtures.
Syktyvkar
In the capital of Komi, volunteer Oleg Borovenkov and activist of the headquarter Anatoly Misharin were detained at the end of the coordinated rally. The police did not like the fact that activists distributed their leaflets to attendees with "prohibited pre-election campaigning". Misharin was detained for not parking the car properly.
Cheboksary
More than 50 people were detained in the capital of Chuvashia. The riot police detained all those who were pointed out by plainclothes officers. Activists of the local headquarter were detained earlier than everyone else on the approach to the site of the action. Coordinator of the local Navalny’s headquarter Semyon Kochkin noticed the police even before he left the house — he was stalked at the entrance. At 20:00 the last of the detainees was released. The action was uncoordinated.
Pskov
The Pskov meeting, on the contrary, passed without incident and gathered about 300 participants. Pensioners and workers joined activists of the local headquarter. The action took place in the local hyde park.
Penza
Navalny’s supporters in Penza were joined by communists and nationalists. In total about 150 protesters gathered in the hyde park. The communists offered to vote for their candidate Pavel Grudinin.
Ryazan
Ryazan supporters of Navalny have not achieved the approval of the march through the city, so they strolled along the central streets without the authorization of the authorities. They had to face not only a tractor that swept the square, but also a picket of an ideological opponent — communist Alexey Zakharov met the supporters of the "Strike of voters" with a poster "Boycott of Elections – Work for Government". More than 300 people marched to the Ryazan Kremlin, they were accompanied by the police, and a traffic police officer even stopped the car movement when procession crossed the road.
Murmansk
Murmansk rally was also uncoordinated, but more than 20 people, including the coordinator of the local headquarter, Violetta Grudina, were detained. The rallies were planned in six other regional centers of the Murmansk region.
Petrozavodsk
The rally was uncoordinated, so the supporters of Navalny went to the local hyde park. But the authorities arranged their own event there — this did not embarrass the activists. They laid out the official logo of the campaign on the snow and lined up the letter "H" for a quadrocopter photo. Detentions were inevitable. Five participants in the action were detained, it looked pretty aggressive.
Kostroma
In Kostroma, supporters of Navalny organized a march instead of uncoordinated rally. The protesters did a round dance around the New Year tree, chanting "When we are one, we are invincible!". And in the square opposite to the building of the mayor's office they scanned: "One, two, three — Emetz, come outside!" addressing the head of the city administration Viktor Emets. About 200 people took part in the action, there were no detentions. No police officers were noticed near the column along the entire route.
Daniil Kuznetsov, «7x7»
