About 1,500 people gathered in Russian Ufa (capital of Bashkortostan) for a demonstration today. Law enforcers started arresting people.

Hundreds of people started coming to Salavat Yulaev Square in Ufa in the morning of January 19. They explained their presence in the city center by the desire to "see their people" and lay flowers at the monument to the national hero of Bashkortostan. Special police forces and security forces in plain clothes arrived at the site and almost immediately started detentions.

By noon (Ufa time), about 1,500 people had gathered in the square in the center of Ufa, where a demonstration in support of activist Fayil Alsynov, who had been sentenced to four years in prison, had been held, SOTAvision reported from the scene. Russian National Guard and riot police were gathered around the square, men in civilian clothes with masks on their faces were on duty along the perimeter, and several police buses were involved. Mobile communication and internet disruptions were observed.

According to preliminary data, law enforcers detained a total of 7 people on Salavat Yulaev Square. Other protesters tried to prevent the departure of the bus with them, but the riot police pushed them back. The protesters chanted, "Shame!" Closer to 1 pm special police forced removed almost all the people from the square, and several more trucks arrived to help the law enforcers. Ufa residents began to disperse along the city streets, but the security forces rushed to pursue and detain them, local media reported.