Volgograd activists hold solo pickets in Navalny's support

Three solo pickets were held in Volgograd demanding to release the opposition leader, Alexei Navalny, and other political prisoners. Policemen treated one of the pickets as a group one, because a passerby helped the picketer collect her posters flying in the wind.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on January 23 and 31, 2021, all over Russia, including in Volgograd, mass rallies were held in support of Alexei Navalny. The detained Volgograd residents explained that they had taken part in protests because of absence of social care amid poverty and lawlessness.

The picketers, Tamara Grodnikova, Galina Tikhenko and Vladimir Vasilchenko, came out with posters to the Heroes' Alley in the Tsentralny District of Volgograd. To prevent their pickets from being treated as a mass action, they stood at a distance of more than 50 meters from each other. All of them defended Russia's political prisoners and expressed support for Alexei Navalny.

Because of the strong wind, Tamara Grodnikova's posters were flying apart; and a passerby volunteered to help her. He caught posters and set them up behind the curb. A policeman, seeing this, claimed that the picket was a group one and recorded everything on a video camera as a violation of the provisions of the Administrative Code on political actions.

This article was originally published on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’ on February 14, 2021 at 07:19 pm MSK. To access the full text of the article, click here.