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Russian Opposition Activists Attacked With Feces

Lyubov Sobol Navalny Live / YouTube

Anti-Kremlin activists were attacked with feces over the weekend in Moscow, a longtime aide to opposition politician Alexei Navalny has said.

Lyubov Sobol, who is running for a seat in the Moscow Duma, had recently opened stands across the city collecting signatures to help get her on the ballot for the Sept. 8 municipal elections. Three of Sobol’s stands were attacked on Saturday, she wrote on Facebook.

Footage of one of the attacks shared online shows a masked man asking activists “Are you against [pro-Kremlin political party] United Russia?” before throwing a bucket filled with a brown substance at them. A second video from a surveillance camera shows a man in a baseball cap tossing a bag with what also appears to be brown matter.

“The police were nearby but were completely inactive,” Sobol said, adding that she will continue her campaign. “You can’t intimidate or break me.”

Sobol and Navalny have both blamed Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin for the attacks.

Dmitry Gudkov, another opposition politician vying for a seat in the Moscow Duma, said his volunteers had also been attacked twice in Moscow on Saturday.

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