Thousands of demonstrators were braving brutally cold weather and threats of police crackdowns across Russia on January 23 to call for the release of opposition politician Aleksei Navalny, a Kremlin critic jailed last weekend upon returning to Moscow after medical treatment in Germany for Novichok poisoning.

The OVD-Info group, which monitors Russian police activity, reported at least 237 arrests across 30 cities ahead of the planned Moscow and St. Petersburg rallies — adding that authorities in Khabarovsk reportedly were beating detainees.

Video posted on Twitter from Vladivostok showed police in riot gear charging at demonstrators and beating some with truncheons to disperse that gathering.