Protesters across Russia tried a new tactic to show support for the Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny without being arrested. People posted photos on social media with the hashtag #LoveIsStrongerThanFear in Russian.
Navalny supporters stood outside for 15 minutes waving flashlights and lighting candles
Supporters of the jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalnyheld novel candle-lit minidemonstrations in residential courtyards across Russia on Sunday.
On Valentine's Day evening, people stood outside for 15 minutes. They used the flashlight function on their smartphones and arranged candles in the shape of a heart.
The action went ahead under the motto "Love is stronger than fear."
Organizers described it as a response to the "unprecedented wave of violence and repression" by security forces at past rallies in support of Navalny.
Navalny was arrested last month on his return from Germany. He was being treated there for poisoning with what many Western countries say was a nerve agent developed by the Soviet Union.
The 44-year-old was jailed on February 2 for violating parole on what he said were trumped-up charges.
The small gatherings are intended to avoid the mass arrests at banned larger protests
Supporters of Navalny have attended mass demonstrations in large numbers across Russia in recent weeks.
However, the rallies have resulted in mass detentions of thousands.
Sunday's decentralized and particularly peaceful initiative is meant to make it difficult for the police to take action against it.
Russian law enforcement agencies warned on Thursday that people taking part in unsanctioned rallies could face criminal charges.
#loveisstrongerthanfear
The Anti-Corruption Foundation, founded by Navalny, retweeted tweets from people using the hashtag #LoveIsStrongerThanFear in Russian and English.
The hashtag was trending in fourth place on Russian Twitter on Sunday afternoon.
Leonid Volkov, one of Navalny's close allies, who is now in Lithuania, wrote on Twitter telling people to share their stories of their flashlight demonstrations.
Navalny's team in Moscow tweeted an image of a separate action in support of Navalny's wife, Yulia, and female political prisoners.
Women formed a human chain on a pedestrian street in the capital, carrying hearts and roses.
Vladimir Putin responds
President Vladimir Putin suggested that the recent wave of protests across Russia had been stoked by his opponents abroad against the backdrop of the widespread "exhaustion, frustration and dissatisfaction" arising from the coronavirus pandemic.
"Our opponents or potential opponents have always ... relied on very ambitious, power-hungry people and have always used them," the president said in an interview with Russian media conducted on Wednesday and broadcast Sunday by the public Rossiya 24.
kmm/rc (dpa, Reuters)
Russian women form Valentine's Day chains to protest crackdown
Issued on: 14/02/2021 -
The opposition is trying different kinds of activism following a government crackdown
Olga MALTSEVA AFP
Moscow (AFP)
Several hundred women formed human chains in Moscow and Saint Petersburg Sunday, using Valentine's Day to express support for the wife of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny and political prisoners.
Around 300 women gathered on Arbat Street in Moscow's historic city centre holding a long white ribbon in temperatures of minus 13 degrees Celsius (8 degrees Fahrenheit).
The gathering came after authorities last week sentenced Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critic, to nearly three years in prison and unleashed a crackdown on his supporters.
Female activists said they wanted to express solidarity with Navalny's wife Yulia and other women who have become victims of the crackdown.
"By forming a chain we want to show that we are for love and against violence," Darya Obraztsova, a 22-year-old student, told AFP in Moscow.
"Very brave and nice young women have gathered here," she said, adding she wanted "freedom and justice" for Russia.
In the second city Saint Petersburg, some 100 women formed a similar chain near a monument to victims of political repression.
Some clutched flowers, while others recited poems by Anna Akhmatova, one of Russia's most beloved poets.
"Only love can win over evil," 25-year-old Valeriya Stepanova told AFP in Saint Petersburg.
- 'Love stronger than fear' -
The new form of opposition rallies is similar to human chains formed by female activists in neighbouring Belarus.
Navalny was arrested and jailed upon returning to Russia last month following treatment in Germany for a nerve agent poisoning.
His jailing sparked widespread protests across Russia that have seen at least 10,000 people detained.
After the crackdown Navalny's team postponed mass rallies until the spring or summer, but urged supporters to use Valentine's Day to try out new -- and safer -- forms of protest.
Navalny's right-hand man Leonid Volkov has called on Russians to stage courtyard protests on Sunday evening, lighting their phone flashlights for 15 minutes and posting pictures of the gatherings on social media.
Navalny's team released pictures and video of small-scale gatherings that took place in eastern Russia and Siberia earlier Sunday, with Russians lighting flashlights, sparklers and small lanterns.
"Love is stronger than fear," said an electronic ticker tape on a residential high-rise in the Siberian city of Tomsk, according to a video released by Navalny's team.
Officials have accused the opposition of acting on orders from NATO and warned that anyone violating the law would be punished.
"We will not play cat and mouse with anyone," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
© 2021 AFP
Issued on: 14/02/2021 -
The opposition is trying different kinds of activism following a government crackdown
Olga MALTSEVA AFP
Moscow (AFP)
Several hundred women formed human chains in Moscow and Saint Petersburg Sunday, using Valentine's Day to express support for the wife of jailed opposition leader Alexei Navalny and political prisoners.
Around 300 women gathered on Arbat Street in Moscow's historic city centre holding a long white ribbon in temperatures of minus 13 degrees Celsius (8 degrees Fahrenheit).
The gathering came after authorities last week sentenced Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most prominent critic, to nearly three years in prison and unleashed a crackdown on his supporters.
Female activists said they wanted to express solidarity with Navalny's wife Yulia and other women who have become victims of the crackdown.
"By forming a chain we want to show that we are for love and against violence," Darya Obraztsova, a 22-year-old student, told AFP in Moscow.
"Very brave and nice young women have gathered here," she said, adding she wanted "freedom and justice" for Russia.
In the second city Saint Petersburg, some 100 women formed a similar chain near a monument to victims of political repression.
Some clutched flowers, while others recited poems by Anna Akhmatova, one of Russia's most beloved poets.
"Only love can win over evil," 25-year-old Valeriya Stepanova told AFP in Saint Petersburg.
- 'Love stronger than fear' -
The new form of opposition rallies is similar to human chains formed by female activists in neighbouring Belarus.
Navalny was arrested and jailed upon returning to Russia last month following treatment in Germany for a nerve agent poisoning.
His jailing sparked widespread protests across Russia that have seen at least 10,000 people detained.
After the crackdown Navalny's team postponed mass rallies until the spring or summer, but urged supporters to use Valentine's Day to try out new -- and safer -- forms of protest.
Navalny's right-hand man Leonid Volkov has called on Russians to stage courtyard protests on Sunday evening, lighting their phone flashlights for 15 minutes and posting pictures of the gatherings on social media.
Navalny's team released pictures and video of small-scale gatherings that took place in eastern Russia and Siberia earlier Sunday, with Russians lighting flashlights, sparklers and small lanterns.
"Love is stronger than fear," said an electronic ticker tape on a residential high-rise in the Siberian city of Tomsk, according to a video released by Navalny's team.
Officials have accused the opposition of acting on orders from NATO and warned that anyone violating the law would be punished.
"We will not play cat and mouse with anyone," Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
© 2021 AFP
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