Huge anti-government demonstrations erupted in Russia’s far east yesterday over the arrest of a popular governor who was replaced this week by a Kremlin appointee who never lived in the region.
Residents of Khabarovsk near the border with China have taken to the streets en masse since the head of their region, Sergei Furgal, was arrested by federal law enforcement and flown to Moscow on murder charges earlier this month.
The running demonstrations have been some of the largest anti-government protests in Russia in years, which the Kremlin said this week were being fueled by opposition activists outside of the region.
Photo: AP
Tens of thousands of residents marched through Khabarovsk waving the region’s flag, carrying banners and chanting slogans critical of Russian President Vladimir Putin as passing cars honked their horns in support, a reporter said.
Demonstrators converged in front of the regional administrative building on Lenin Square shouting “freedom” and “Putin resign.”
Police wearing masks allowed the demonstrations to go ahead, despite a ban on public gatherings as part of measures to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.
Estimates of the turnout varied greatly, with Khabarovsk officials saying that 6,500 people attended. Pro-opposition social media channels placed the number at about 90,000.
Authorities say that at least 10,000 people took part in previous demonstrations on July 11 and Saturday last week, although some local media and opposition figures put the figure at 35,000 to 50,000 people or more.
Journalists reporting from the town seven time zones east of Mosocw said that yesterday’s rally was the lagrest since the demonstrations began this month.
On Monday, Putin officially fired Furgal, 50, and appointed a lawmaker from the same Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR), Mikhail Degtyarev, as his acting replacement.
The move was met with by anger from Khabarovsk residents, who said that the 39-year-old outsider lacked experience and had no connection to the region.
In a video posted to Instagram this week, Degtyarev dismissed calls for him to step down and said that the mass demonstrations did not reflect broader public opinion.
Ahead of demonstrations on Friday he suggested that foreign citizens had flown from Moscow to Khabarovsk to help organize the protests.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov dismissed claims of foreign interference, but said that the protests were a “nutrient ... for troublemakers” and pseudo-opposition activists.
Opposition leader and one-time presidential hopeful Alexei Navalny has thrown his weight behind the protesters and this week said that the demonstrations could only win concessions “with the support of the entire country.”
Furgal’s detention ahead of a trial in September sparked an an outcry from the LDPR, whose leader, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, this week vowed to secure a presidential pardon if he is found guilty of the charges.
Russia’s Investigative Committee, which probes major crimes, said that Furgal was charged with ordering the murders and attempted murders of several businessmen in 2004 and 2005.
Critics say the case is politically motivated after Furgal was elected with a large majority in 2018 in an embarrassing defeat for a candidate of the ruling party backed by Putin.
They have demanded that Furgal face the charges in Khabarovsk and question why investigators waited so long to accuse an official who should have undergone background checks.
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