RantCrush Top 5: June 12, 2017

Today is the National Holiday of the Russian Federation, and police detained hundreds of anti-Kremlin protesters. Those detained included opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is planning on challenging President Vladimir Putin in the next election. Thousands of people took to the streets in various cities to demonstrate their support for Navalny and opposition to Putin. But the protests had not been approved by the Kremlin and officials said Navalny could be jailed for up to 15 days for violating public order. According to media reports, the legislative assembly deputy of St. Petersburg, Maxim Reznik, was among the 200 who people detained in St. Petersburg alone.

Several teenage girls arrested in Petersburg just in the last few minutes pic.twitter.com/VBy0h0RkBK

— max seddon (@maxseddon) June 12, 2017

The protests stem from reports of political corruption and from Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev’s lavish lifestyle–among other things, he built a duck house in a pond on one of his many estates, while many Russians live in poverty. After that, ducks became a symbol of the resistance.

This duck, in honor of Medvedev’s infamous duck house, was also arrested pic.twitter.com/BKUpCr14Up

— max seddon (@maxseddon) June 12, 2017

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.