Moscow Police arrests over 500 at election protests

Moscow Police has arrested over 500 individuals at the protest held against the prevention of opposition-minded candidates from taking part in September's city council election, according to the news agency AFP.

#BREAKING More than 500 arrested at Moscow election protest: monitor pic.twitter.com/W3t3etbakQ

— AFP news agency (@AFP) July 27, 2019

Thousands of Russians had said they would take to the streets of Moscow to demand fair local elections, despite a police crackdown on the opposition that has seen top Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny jailed.

Last weekend 22,000 people turned up for a protest in Moscow, the largest such demonstration in years after election authorities refused to register dozens of candidates.

A handful of people were detained at that protest, though hundreds were arrested last month at a demonstration in Moscow against police abuses.

Earlier this month, Moscow city authorities turned down dozens of opposition candidates, arguing that some of the required 5,500 signatures they had collected were invalid, ahead of the city council vote.

The local authority is held by United Russia, a party with close links to the Kremlin, and control of the council is seen as symbolically significant in Russia.

Then a rally on 20 July brought more than 20,000 people on to the streets. Thousands more indicated they would take part in the next big rally, but authorities refused to allow it, saying that the protests included threats of violence against the electoral commission.