Gudkov Sr.: 5,000-7,000 gather in Moscow center to support Navalny
MOSCOW. July 18 (Interfax) - Several thousand supporters of opposition activist Alexei Navalny are holding an unpermitted rally in the center of Moscow, former State Duma deputy Gennady Gudkov (A Just Russia) said.
"I think about 5,000-7,000 people have gathered here," he told Interfax.
The activity of the supporters of the anti-corruption fund founder is quite natural, he said.
"I believe this is a normal reaction to what has happened in Kirov today. This is a manifestation of normal civil society," Gudkov said.
Yabloko opposition party leader Sergei Mitrokhin estimated the size of the protest in the Moscow center at around 10,000. "About ten thousand of us have come here. There are 10,000, in all, standing in various places," Mitrokhin said.
"The police are leaving most of the protesters alone but I have just seen one person being detained. He put up a sign," he said.
Supporters of the opposition activist are standing along Tverskaya, Okhotny Ryad and Mokhovaya Streets, an Interfax correspondent reports. They sporadically chant slogans in Navalny's support and demand to set him free. The police are detaining those who get in the way of traffic. Some drivers blow their horns as they pass by the protesters.
A Kirov court sentenced Navalny on Thursday to five years in prison on Kirovles embezzlement counts. Some opposition members and public figures said they would gather in downtown Moscow to discuss the verdict.