How Moscow police's attempts to shut down pro-Navalny protests may have backfired

Protesters in Moscow were reportedly able to take advantage of police efforts to clamp down on their demonstrations and spread their message of support for jailed Kremlin critic Alexey Navalny further across the city than expected, The Associated Press reports.

Per AP, police closed seven subway stations in the vicinity of Lubyanka Square in central Moscow and restricted pedestrian traffic in the area where the rally was supposed to start. To counter, Navalny's team relayed information via a messaging app, telling protesters to head to two other subway stations that were still open, allowing the demonstrators to move through different parts of the city. Along the way, they reportedly attracted "considerable attention" from the city's populace, which may not have witnessed the events if they had been confined to the center of the city.

Of course, the day was far from easy for the protesters — in Moscow alone more than 1,450 people were reportedly arrested (more than 4,000 were reportedly detained across Russia), and some were beaten by police in the process. But the pro-Navalny, anti-Putin message was clear. Read more at The Associated Press. Tim O'Donnell

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