Hundreds Rally For Nalvany In Baltic States

Tallinn, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 23rd Jan, 2021 ) :Demonstrations in support of jailed Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny were held in the Baltic states of Lithuania and Estonia on Saturday, as police detained protesters at demonstrations across Russia.

Several hundred people gathered at Freedom Square in the centre of the Estonian capital Tallinn and later marched to the Russian embassy. Organisers asked participants to stand in groups of 10 people at most in order to comply with coronavirus restrictions.

Some held up portraits of Navalny, others had signs reading "Free Navalny!" and "No to Dictatorship!".

The protesters were joined by environmental activist Yevgenia Chirikova, who fled from Russia to Estonia in 2015 fearing a crackdown on the opposition.

One participant, Eva, 26, who declined to give her surname, said she had also moved to Estonia, as had two of her friends who were also at the demonstration.

"This agenda is very important to us: freedom of speech, freedom of everything in Russia, feeling protected and safe," she said.

"Luckily, that's exactly how we feel here, and we'd really love it if it were possible to always feel this way in Russia." A small protest was also held in the Estonian city of Narva on the border with Russia, while around 100 people rallied in the Lithuanian capital Vilnius.

In Russia, thousands protested in different cities.

Navalny, 44, rose to prominence a decade ago and has become the central figure of Russia's opposition movement, leading large-scale street protests against corruption and electoral fraud.

He called for protests after surviving a near-fatal poisoning with a Novichok nerve agent and returning to Moscow last weekend following months of treatment in Germany.

His arrest upon arrival in Moscow drew widespread Western condemnation, with the United States and the European Union calling for his release.