In photos: Protesters across Russia brave freezing temperatures and police
31 January 2021
Protesters across Russia were defying orders not to hold unauthorized protests Sunday, with demonstrations triggered by the detention of opposition leader Alexey Navalny.
Why it matters: His detention has united Russians from a variety of backgrounds, including those who are against Navalny's politics, against the authoritarian leadership of President Vladimir Putin, per the New York Times. They're rallying despite police arresting over 3,300 protesters last weekend amid a wider crackdown on dissidents.
Riot police at an unauthorized rally in Vladivostok. Moscow School for Social and Economic Sciences sociologist Konstantin Gaaze told the NYT, "Navalny has, for the first time, sparked a Russian protest movement against the president." Photo: Yuri Smityuk/TASS via Getty Images
A police officer detains a demonstrator during an unauthorized protest in support of Navalny in the Far East city of Yakutsk in the Republic of Sakha. Photo: Vadim Skryabin/TASS via Getty Images
The scene in St Petersburg ahead of an unauthorized rally in the port city. Photo: Alexander Demianchuk/TASS via Getty Images
Demonstrators and police officers in Yakutsk, where temperatures have hit -39 degrees Fahrenheit. Photo: Vadim Skryabin/TASS via Getty Image
Novosibirsk police officers detain demonstrators. Photo: Kirill Kukhmar/TASS via Getty Images
Vladivostok police officers detain a demonstrator. Photo: Yuri Smityuk/TASS via Getty Images
Go deeper: Biden's Russia challenge
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.