Police detained more than 200 opposition activists on Saturday for taking part in a wave of anti-Kremlin protests across Russia in support of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny, ahead of a presidential election in March, a monitoring group reported. In St Petersburg, Putin’s home town, a Reuters witness saw riot police roughly detain at least 11 people. Opinion polls show he would comfortably beat Navalny if the opposition leader was allowed to run. Putin spent his birthday taking congratulatory calls from other world leaders, and chaired a security council meeting. Authorities had refused to approve most of Saturday’s rallies, but Navalny says Russians’ right to protest is enshrined in the constitution.

Source: Dhaka Tribune October 07, 2017 18:00 UTC