Today was very good.
In Moscow, people first gathered in Pushkin Square and then marched through the side streets and along Tverskaya Street toward the Kremlin. It was one of the largest marches Moscow has seen in recent years.
In St. Petersburg, our rally was approved for the first time in the past two years, but then a pipe "unexpectedly" burst at the declared location. The authorization was revoked, even though the law does not allow that.
Since morning, trucks carrying barbed wire had been brought to Lenin Square, and OMON riot police were being deployed. Nevertheless, people gathered there at 2 p.m. and then marched along the embankments:
In St. Petersburg, however, one of the fiercest clashes with the police took place today. So far, we are seeing reports of several hundred detainees. Our hotline is operating today, and we are ready to support everyone who has reached out to us.
And here are the protests in other cities.
Saratov:
Orenburg:
Kazan:
Kaliningrad:
Murmansk:
Rostov-on-Don:
Cheboksary:
A huge thank you to everyone who came. You are citizens of your country and true heroes. This time we faced an unprecedented number of refusals to authorize protests— in almost every city, many applicants and campaign staff were detained preemptively. Navalny was detained two weeks in advance so that he could not take part in organizing the rallies. They threatened repression, said that the "pension reform" no longer interested anyone, and that no one would come out on the Single Voting Day (Russia's nationwide election day). But none of that frightened you or threw you off course.
Thank you—you are the best people in this country.
Of our 46 campaign office coordinators, 26 have been detained as of today. In many regions, staff members or former coordinators have also been detained. This will not stop us: everywhere, including Moscow, our work will continue as normal. And if you support what we are doing, you can support our regional network here.
We will not stop fighting against the increase in the pension age. Today proves that there are huge numbers of people who are not prepared to silently endure this robbery. We must keep working and not allow crooks to keep plundering our country.