Streaming on the foundry

In St. Petersburg, the action of Navalny's supporters was not as peaceful as in Moscow, but almost the entire city center covered it

Photo: Natalia Skek

“To the attention of everyone who sincerely believed that he had come to an authorized legal rally,” a penetrating young male voice came from the dynamics of a white van without identification marks, standing in the middle of the Marse Field. - Unfortunately, you were deceived, and the police will be forced to detain violators of the law. It will be unfair if you suffer because of the provocateurs. If this is not included in your plans, then so that you have arrived and lost time in vain, specially organized for you the free show of the film “Crimea” in the nearest cinema “Homeland”, at the caravan of 12. The beginning of the session - at 18:30. The invitation will be awarded to you on the approach to Marse Paul or betrayed at the cinema if there are free places. Therefore, please do not be late, go there for 10 minutes, pleasant to you view!

With small breaks, this voice turned to the gathered at an unauthorized rally in the center of St. Petersburg for about 20 minutes.

Photo: Natalia Skek

"Crooks and thieves - five minutes for fees"

The crowd first met these calls with homeric laughter, then generally stopped reacting. About 3 thousand people gathered to the eternal fire on Marsov, despite the warnings of the authorities that were distributed by local media, on October 7th, people of different ages came to friendly companies and entire families. Moreover, the weather was clearly disposed to walks and meetings in the fresh air - it was raining in the morning, but in the middle of the day the sun looked out (either in honor of the president’s anniversary, or to maintain the combat spirit of the gathered on Marse).

There was practically no police on the field itself, but, despite the crowd, some construction machines rode along the paths, depicting repair and improvement-two days before Saturday Mars were dug up, fenced with repair and road fences, and in the morning of the 7th they drove a large number of road equipment.

Most of the gathered were waving red paper stripes with the inscription "Navalny 20! 8". Small groups in different ends of the square chanted “Putin - thief!”, “Freedom to Navalny!”, “We are for honest elections!”, “Crooks and thieves - five minutes for training!”

“I am not a supporter of Navalny, but I am a categorical supporter of his participation in the elections,” deputy Maxim Reznik, who also came to the Marse field, told the NT correspondent. -The participation of Navalny in the elections today gives at least some legimitization of this process.

"Granny too for us!"

This time, unlike previous shares, no one climbed into high granite slabs standing around the perimeter around the eternal flame, the bulk of people simply walked calmly around the memorial.

- You are well done! -said some middle-aged woman of the company of very young participants passing by.

- Great, grances too for us! - adolescents were delighted.

About 20 minutes after the start of the promotion, the core of the crowd shouts "on the palace!" moved to the exit. But then an operation began, which, it seems, law enforcement officers and security forces were prepared carefully and in advance - not without reason from the evening of Friday throughout the center of the city, especially at the intersections of the streets adjacent to the Marse Paul, police cars, car cars, large -sized road equipment were placed.

In the crowd they screamed "on Smolny!" - And it became clear that the column was going on the government building

The columns of cars quickly blocked the exits from the Mars of the field to Sadovaya Street, to the sink embankment, forcing the protesters to turn onto Pestel Street along the Summer Garden, past the Panteleimonov church. In the crowd they screamed "on Smolny!" - And it became clear that the column was going on the government building. Law enforcement officers predicted this maneuver, and dense defensive ranks, consisting of auto -zaks, stopped at the intersection with Litein Prospekt.

A remarkable detail: while the crowd walked along a narrow street of Pestel, where dozens of cars stood in a dense kilometer traffic, their drivers did not hysterically signed, did not show anger, but patiently waited. Sometimes, peering out of the windows of cars, they held out their hands behind the leaflets.

"Bypassing, bypassing!"

The movement on Litein Prospekt was blocked, a whole column of empty buses for loading the detainees was approaching from the side of the foundry bridge. The avant -garde of the protesters column, which reached the intersection with Nekrasov Street, managed to tear himself away from the rest of the crowd, while the bulk of the audience on the action was slowed down on the approach to Nekrasov.

And then mass detentions began - the “astronauts” jumped out of the risen riot police cars and the crowds of those who chanted the slogans, people with posters began to grab. Some of the protesters turned back, chanting "bypassing, bypassing!" And leading the people along the neighboring streets, away from the accumulation of riot police cars.

The very modest company of Supporters of Navalny, in the end, reached Palace Square, where, according to the NT correspondent, she arranged a concert with songs and “congratulations” to the president

By eight in the evening, from 30 to 100 people were detained, according to various sources. Among the detainees were an employee of the Corruption Fund (FBK) Georgy Alburov, civil activist Ildar Dadin (he managed to report on social networks that David Frenkel, a photographer of Mediazona, was with him in Avtozak. OMON acted extremely harshly - people were grabbed from the crowd indiscriminately, dragged along the asphalt, beaten, one woman was broken into the blood.

The scattered parts of the column of the protesters nevertheless reached the Square of the uprising, where they were also met by the autozaks. Nevertheless, a very modest company of Supporters of Navalny, in the end, reached Palace Square, where, according to the NT correspondent, she arranged a concert with songs and “congratulations” to the president. By the way, previously detained protesters were among the participants in this concert - almost all detainees were released on this day (probably in honor of the guarantor of the Constitution), taking from them a subscription with obligations not to violate the rules of the road. Until the morning, only the Coordinator of Open Russia in St. Petersburg Andrei Pivovarov and activist Vasily Kunin was kept in the ATS.

The demonstration of force ended with a demonstration of the highest generosity.

From 2 to 3 thousand people, according to Echo correspondents, entered the action in support of Navalny in St. Petersburg https://t.co/2wgq21dpcr pic.twitter.com/mt28nxyhva

- Echo of Moscow (@Echomskru) October 7, 2017