The police are cracking down on demonstrators in free-elections protests in Moscow. In the morning, several oppositionists had already been arrested.

The police arrested hundreds of people during protests against the expulsion of opposition candidates for the local elections in Moscow. The Moscow police reported according to the state agency Tass 295 arrests, the civil rights portal OWD-Info speaks of at least 317 arrests.

The demonstration, which was not approved by the authorities, seemed to have several thousand participants. She continued in the afternoon. Riot police with helmets tried to push back the demonstrators. Some resisted. The participants called slogans, including “Russia will be free”.

The demonstrators demand that independent candidates and opposition members be admitted to the election of the new Moscow City Parliament on 8 September. Previously, numerous politicians such as the prominent government critic Ilya Yashin were not registered as applicants because they were allegedly missing the necessary signatures or their documents had flawed.

According to the decisions of the authorities, the Municipal Court of Moscow received about 30 complaints from the Interfax agency. In some cases they have been rejected, other decisions are still pending.