Thousands people came to an unauthorized rally to support the detained governor of Russia’s Khabarovsk region

Sergei Furgal © Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS. Sketched by the Pan Pacific Agency.

KHABAROVSK, Jul 11, 2020, Pan Pacific Agency. Near 2,000 people in Khabarovsk came to an unauthorized rally near the regional government building after temporary fences in the central square of the city was broken today. The assembled people chanted “Let go”, “Freedom” and other slogans, showed posters in support of the Khabarovsk region’s governor Sergei Furgal, who was arrested the day before, Pan Pacific Agency reported.

Later, more than 10,000 residents of Khabarovsk took part in the march with similar requirements. Regional officials, including Vladimir Khlapov, head of the govt’s apparatus, talked to people gathered near the building several times. After the first time the protesters refused to disperse, the police were brought to the building. The rally wasn’t authorized, but the regional department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs has not reported about any detainees yet.

Sergei Furgal, the governor of Russia’s Far Eastern Khabarovsk region, was detained near his house in the region’s administrative center Khabarovsk on Thursday (Jul 9) on suspicion of organizing the murder of several entrepreneurs in the region between 2004 and 2005. He has been transported to Moscow for questioning. The Moscow’s Basmanny district court on Friday sent Sergei Furgal to a pre-trial detention center “Lefortovo” for two months, till September 9.

Russian version of this article is available here.

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