This archive report was first published on 28 July 2019.
On July 27, 2019, thousands of protesters gathered in Moscow to demand open elections, but Russian police responded with force, detaining nearly 1,400 people, according to a monitor.
The protest, which drew around 3,500 people, was the largest in years, and came a week after 22,000 people took to the streets calling on authorities to reverse their decision ahead of the vote.
Police used batons on protesters, and AFP reporters at the scene saw demonstrators with injuries.
The European Union denounced the 'disproportionate use of force against peaceful protesters,' which it said undermined 'the fundamental freedoms of expression, association and assembly.'
Amnesty International also condemned the use of excessive force by the police.
Top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny was jailed for 30 days for calling the fresh protest.
Several would-be candidates were detained before or during the meeting on Saturday, including Ilya Yashin, who called for another protest next weekend.
According to OVD-Info, an organisation that monitors protests, this was the highest number of detentions since mass demonstrations in 2012.
