The United States condemned this Saturday the use by Moscow of "
brutal methods
" against the tens of thousands of people who demonstrated in Russia at the call of the opponent Alexeï Navalny to demand his release.
Read also: Russia: a Saturday of demonstrations in support of Navalny against a backdrop of weariness of Putinism
"
The United States strongly condemns the use of brutal methods against protesters and journalists this weekend in cities across Russia,
" new State Department spokesman Ned wrote in a statement. Price.
More than 2,500 demonstrators were arrested on Saturday, according to the specialist NGO OVD Info.
"
We urge the Russian authorities to release all those who have been arrested for exercising their fundamental rights and to immediately and unconditionally release Alexeï Navalny,
" continued the spokesman for American diplomacy under the presidency of Joe Biden.
20,000 demonstrators
"
The constant attempts to suppress the right of Russians to peaceful assembly and to suppress freedom of expression, the arrest of the opponent Alexei Navalny as well as the crackdown on the demonstrations that followed are worrying indications of the new restrictions imposed on civil society and fundamental freedoms
, ”lamented Ned Price.
The main rallies took place this Saturday in Moscow and St. Petersburg, with in each case some 20,000 participants, according to AFP journalists.
In Moscow, clashes were held on several occasions in the afternoon between police officers who beat demonstrators with batons, generally throwing snowballs at them but also other projectiles.
At the beginning of the evening, hundreds of people joined the prison of Matrosskaya Tichina where the opponent Alexeï Navalny is being held, in the north of Moscow.
Police made arrests there, beating protesters with batons and dispersing them.
