The protests, which demand that Moscow authorities allow independent candidates to appear on the ballot in the city’s upcoming elections, have been the largest wave of demonstrations in Russia since 2011-2012. Independent polling this week said that Moscow residents are more likely to support the protests than oppose them.
At least 49,900 people have gathered at the authorized protest on Prospekt Sakharov so far, the White Counter crowd-monitoring NGO said.
The rally included performances by the techno duo IC3PEAK and the popular rapper Face. Moscow City Hall had barred the musical performers but organizers said the acts would still take the stage.
Ahead of Saturday’s protest, masked police searched an office used by opposition activist Lyubov Sobol and took her in for questioning, she wrote on Twitter.
“I won’t make it to the protest. But you know what to do without me….Russia will be free!” Sobol said.
Eight people have been detained so far at the Moscow protest, the OVD-Info police-monitoring website said.
Several other Russian cities, including St. Petersburg, are also staging pickets in solidarity with Moscow’s opposition candidates. Eighty-six have been detained at the St. Petersburg rally and 11 were detained in Rostov-on-Don, OVD-Info said.
Russia’s main election board on Wednesday rejected the appeals of several opposition politicians, including hunger-striking Sobol, to get back on the ballot.
In the days since, the opposition has vowed to continue staging protests — authorized or unauthorized — until the Sept. 8 City Duma election.
Russian celebrities like popular YouTuber Yury Dud and rapper Oxxxymiron announced they would attend today’s event, calling on their millions of social media followers to join them.
Moscow police have detained more than 2,300 people at rallies this summer protesting the candidates’ exclusion. While most of those detained were quickly released, authorities accused protesters of using violence against the police.
Investigators opened criminal proceedings against several people over what they have called mass civil unrest, an offense punishable with up to eight years in jail.
On Friday, senators in Russia’s upper-house Federation Council said they will draft a bill to further restrict the locations where citizens will be allowed to protest.
Equinox is perhaps one of the most popular fitness clubs for gay men in many of the nation’s urban markets, including West Hollywood and Los Angeles.
A protest is planned in West Hollywood Equinox (8590 Sunset Boulevard) on Friday, August 9 at 4 PM is just one of many that that are planned around the country.
A Facebook page, “Protest Equinox, SoulCycle and TRUMP,” posted by local residents Gonzalo Garcia and Adam Bass, has drawn dozens of likes and a growing crowd of local resident supporters.
Protests have grown organically around the country, including San Francisco where dozens of activists staged a protest outside the SoulCycle location in the Castro district Wednesday evening, hours after it was reported that the owner was planning a ritzy fundraiser for President Donald Trump at his home in the Hamptons in New York.
Related Companies owns luxury fitness club Equinox Fitness, the parent company to fitness clubs PURE Yoga, Blink Fitness and SoulCycle. Ross is also the owner of the Miami Dolphins, the Hard Rock Stadium, the Time Warner Center and Hudson Yards.
In Southern California, Ross’ Related Companies owns and manages billions of dollars worth of real estate, including the now under construction Frank Gehry designed The Grand, a highly anticipated landmark development that will complement the adjacent Disney Concert Hall and connect with the nearby arts and cultural institutions through Gehry’s distinct design.
Related companies also owns and manages The Century, the tallest building in West LA and home to numerous billionaire tenants. There are dozens of other, smaller luxury property developments in the Southern California region, especially Santa Monica.
According to the Washington Post, tickets for the Trump fundraiser range from $100,000 to $250,000.
News of the fundraiser sparked online outrage from around the world on social media with many calling for a boycott of Equinox and SoulCycle. Both fitness clubs boast a heavy LGBTQ clientele base nationally.
Actor Wilson Cruz started a Change.org petition calling on Equinox to demand Ross cancel the fundraiser.
Asked about the travel warnings, Trump said he was unfamiliar with the reports, but said the U.S. will take unspecified actions against countries that issued the warnings.
“Well, I can’t imagine that,” he said when told of the warnings. “But if they did that, we’d just reciprocate. We are a very reciprocal nation, with me as the head. When somebody does something negative to us in terms of a country, we do it to them.”
In what may have been a subtle dig at Japan, Trump even hinted that allies such as Japan could be the target of these “reciprocal” actions, though it was not clear what actions the president could take in response.
“Look, our country has been taken advantage of by foreign countries, even allies — including allies, and in many cases, more than anybody else,” he said. “We’ve been taken advantage of for many, many years, and it stops. It stopped.”
Prompted by deadly shootings last week in Dayton, Ohio, and El Paso, Texas, that left 31 people dead, the Japanese Foreign Ministry warned citizens in the United States to stay vigilant against such dangers.
“Heeding to the possibility that shooting incidents could happen anywhere in the U.S., which is a gun society, please continue to stay alert as a precautionary measure,” the Consulate General of Japan in Detroit said in a statement Sunday.
