MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 23rd January, 2021) Scuffles between riot police and protesters at unauthorized demonstrations in central Moscow have led to several injuries.
Sputnik's correspondent from the scene reports that several people left Pushkin Square bloodied up.
Photographs posted to social media showed citizens bleeding from the head and pointing to bruises.
The brawl began earlier when police responded to being pelted with water bottles and eggs, as thousands turned up in the square to participate in the demonstration called by opposition figure Alexey Navalny.
No official information about the number or nature of injuries have yet been shared.
Protests began early Saturday in Far Eastern cities of Vladivostok and Khabarovsk and unfolded as the day progressed west, as opposition-minded citizens responded to jailed activist Alexey Navalny's call to take to the streets.
In the run-up to the protests, authorities urged citizens to refrain from attending the protests, as coronavirus restrictions prohibited public gatherings.
Navalny was detained upon his arrival in Russia last week for violating probation terms on an earlier embezzlement conviction. The opposition figure and his associates began calling for the Saturday protest after he was placed under 30-day custody. Authorities have tried to stem calls to join the protest on social media on grounds of illegal involvement of minors in protest activity and coronavirus violations.
