Chaos is intensifying in many major Russian cities as violent "Free Navalny" protests have broken out in support of high-profile Putin critic Alexei Navalny, who was jailed immediately after returning to Russia from Berlin.

Navalny had been in Berlin receiving medical treatment for a failed assassination attempt in which he was poisoned with a banned nerve agent. The Russian government arrested him for violating the conditions of his parole. Navalny had previously exposed significant corruption by Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Reports indicate that over 3,000 people have been detained by Russian authorities as a result of the protests. Approximately half of that figure were arrests in Moscow.

Before the Russian government choked down internet access, several videos surfaced on social media showing heavy-handed crackdowns by riot police on protesters. One video showed police arresting Lyubov Sobol, an anti-corruption lawyer and associate of Navalny, simply for giving an interview to reporters.