Nearly 1600 reported arrested in Russian anti-Putin protests

Russians angered by the impending inauguration of Vladimir Putin to a new term as president protested Saturday in scores of cities across the country — and police responded by reportedly arresting nearly 1,600 of them.

Russian police carrying struggling opposition leader Alexei Navalny, center, at a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo)

Among those arrested was protesting organizer Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption campaigner who is Putin's most prominent foe. Police seized Navalny by the arms and legs and carried the thrashing activist from Moscow's Pushkin Square, where thousands were gathered for an unauthorized protest.

Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, center, gestures as he speaks using a loudspeaker at a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018.  (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

A protester tries to break through a police line during a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Protesters shout anti-government slogans behind a police line at a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitry Serebryakov)

Police also used batons against protesters who chanted "Putin is a thief!" and "Russia will be free!"

Demonstrations under the slogan "He is not our czar" took place throughout the country, from Yakutsk in the far northeast to St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad on the fringes of Europe.

Russian police detain a protester at a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Russian police detain a protester at a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

The protests demonstrated that Navalny's opposition, although considered beleaguered by Russian officials and largely ignored by state-controlled television, has sizeable support in much of the country.

"I think that Putin isn't worthy of leading this country. He has been doing it for 18 years and has done nothing good for it," said Moscow demonstrator Dmitry Nikitenko. "He should leave for good."

Russian police push protesters back during a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Russian police push protesters back during a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

OVD-Info, an organization that monitors political repression, said late Saturday that 1,599 people had been detained at demonstrations in 26 Russian cities. It said 702 were arrested in Moscow alone, and another 232 in St. Petersburg.

Moscow police said about 300 people were detained in the capital, state news agencies said, and there was no official countrywide tally.

Protesters shout anti-government slogans behind a police line at a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Protesters shout anti-government slogans behind a police line at a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

"Let my son go!" Iraida Nikolaeva screamed, running after police in Moscow when they detained her son. "He did not do anything! Are you a human or not? Do you live in Russia or not?"

Navalny was to be charged with disobeying police, an offense that carries a sentence of up to 15 days, news reports said, though when he would face a judge was not immediately clear. Navalny has served several multi-week stretches in jail on similar charges.

Russian police detain a protester at a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Russian police push protesters back during a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

In St. Petersburg, police blocked off a stretch of Nevsky Prospekt as a crowd of about 1,000 marched along the renowned avenue. The video showed some demonstrators being detained.

Putin is to be inaugurated for a new six-year term on Monday after winning re-election in March with 77 percent of the vote. Navalny had hoped to challenge him on the ballot but was blocked because of a felony conviction in a case that supporters regard as falsified in order to marginalize him.

Russian police detain protesters at a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square as Russians angered by the impending inauguration of Vladimir Putin to a new term as the country's president demonstrated throughout the country on Saturday. Police arrested some hundreds, including protest organizer Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption campaigner who is Putin's most prominent foe. (AP Photo)

In Washington, State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert criticized the actions of the Russian police.

Russian police block protesters during a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Russian police detain a protester at a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

A protester jumps over a police barrier during a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square as Russians angered by the impending inauguration of Vladimir Putin to a new term as the country's president demonstrated throughout the country on Saturday. Police arrested hundreds, including protest organizer Alexei Navalny, the anti-corruption campaigner who is Putin's most prominent foe. (AP Photo)

"The United States condemns #Russia's detention of hundreds of peaceful protesters and calls for their immediate release. Leaders who are secure in their own legitimacy don't arrest their peaceful opponents for protesting," she tweeted.

Fighters of National Liberation movement clash with protesters during clashes at a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo)

Russian police block protesters during a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in St.Petersburg, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Dmitri Lovetsky)

Navalny has called nationwide demonstrations several times in the past year, and their turnout has rattled the Kremlin.

Protesters shout anti-government slogans holding small posters reading ' Russia is us!', 'I'm over it' at a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo)

Russian police detain a protester at a demonstration against President Vladimir Putin in Pushkin Square in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, May 5, 2018. (AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin)

Saturday's protests attracted crowds of hundreds in cities that are far remote from Moscow, challenging authorities' contention that Navalny and other opposition figures appeal only to a small, largely urban elite.

AUGUSTA, Maine (AP) — An Army reservist and friend of the gunman behind Maine’s deadliest mass shooting testified Thursday about his friend's mental decline, describing publicly for the first time the warning he issued a month before the tragedy unfolded.

Sean Hodgson texted leaders of his reserve unit six weeks before the shooting that left 18 people dead and 13 wounded, telling them to change the passcode to the gate at their Army Reserve training facility and arm themselves if Robert Card showed up.

Hodgson told a panel investigating the mass shooting on Thursday that he issued the warning to superiors after Card’s delusional and violent behavior spiraled and ended with Card punching him in the face.

“I said ‘Just so you know, I love you. I’ll always be there for you. I won’t give up on you.’ He had that blank stare on his face. It was a dead stare and he drove away,” Hodgson recounted as his friend left him at a gas station.

The attacks happened six months ago on Oct. 25 when Card opened fire at a bowling alley and a bar in Lewiston, two locations where he held a delusional belief that people were talking about him behind his back. Two days later, the 40-year-old Reservist was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Hodgson told superiors on Sept. 15: “I believe he’s going to snap and do a mass shooting.”

But it wasn't just Hodgson who was worried about Card. Several other reservists witnessed his deterioration during training last summer. That led to a two-week hospitalization in July for Card, months after relatives warned police he had grown paranoid and that they were concerned about his access to guns.

The failure of authorities to remove Card’s weapons in the weeks before the shooting has become the subject of a monthslong investigation in the state, which also has passed new gun safety laws since the tragedy.

In an interim report released last month, an independent commission launched by Gov. Janet Mills concluded that the Sagadahoc County sheriff’s office had probable cause under Maine’s “yellow flag” law to take Card into custody and seize his guns. It also criticized police for not following up with Hodgson about his warning text. A final report is expected this summer.

On Thursday, Hodgson said he warned of a mass shooting because Card threatened multiple members of the unit with violence and that his threats and delusions were escalating. And he had access to guns.

“The way he was behaving was very threatening. It was escalating. The totality of the circumstances, the events leading to that moment, I was pretty convinced he was going to cause harm,” he said.

Another reservist, Daryl Reed, testified he witnessed Card’s mental and physical decline firsthand, seeing a “normal guy” who successfully traded stocks and loved hunting and the outdoors become increasingly paranoid and believing others were calling him a pedophile.

Card also acquired an expensive night vision scope that he said he used for hunting, Reed said.

He added fellow reservists started to become concerned Card could become a danger to colleagues. They were surprised, several testified, when Card was released from a psychiatric hospital after only two weeks.

In an exclusive series of interviews in January, Hodgson told The Associated Press he met Card in the Army Reserve in 2006 and that they became close friends after both divorced their spouses around the same time. They lived together for about a month in 2022, and when Card was hospitalized in New York in July, Hodgson drove him back to Maine.

Growing increasingly worried about his friend’s mental health, Hodgson warned authorities after Card started “flipping out” after a night of gambling, pounding the steering wheel and nearly crashing multiple times. After ignoring his pleas to pull over, Card punched him in the face, Hodgson said.

“It took me a lot to report somebody I love,” he said. “But when the hair starts standing up on the back of your neck, you have to listen.”

Some officials downplayed Hodgson’s warning, suggesting he might have been drunk because of the late hour of his text. Army Reserve Capt. Jeremy Reamer, the commanding officer of the reserve unit, described him as “not the most credible of our soldiers” and said his message should be taken “with a grain of salt.”

Hodgson said he struggles with post-traumatic stress disorder and alcohol addiction but said he wasn’t drinking that night and was awake because he works nights and was waiting for his boss to call.

Cara Cookson, director of victim services for the Maine Office of the Attorney General, also testified Thursday and described through tears the daunting task of responding to the enormity of the tragedy with a “patchwork of resources.”

Thursday evening, the Maine Resiliency Center, which provides support to people affected by the killings, planned to hold a six-month commemoration event at a park in Lewiston. “Our hearts are still healing, and the road to healing is long, but we will continue to walk it together,” the governor said in a statement.

Ed Yurek, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, gives testimony, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Augusta, Maine, during a hearing of the independent commission investigating the law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Sean Hodgson, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, gives testimony, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Augusta, Maine, during a hearing of the independent commission investigating the law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Sean Hodgson, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, gives testimony, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Augusta, Maine, during a hearing of the independent commission investigating the law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Sean Hodgson, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, shows where he was punched by Robert Card while giving testimony, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Augusta, Maine, during a hearing of the independent commission investigating the law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Daniel Wathen listens to testimony, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Augusta, Maine, during a hearing of the independent commission investigating the law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Dr. Anthony Ng questions a witness, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Augusta, Maine, during a hearing of the independent commission investigating the law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Toby Dilworth questions a witness, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Augusta, Maine, during a hearing of the independent commission investigating the law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Dr. Debra Baeder questions a witness, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Augusta, Maine, during a hearing of the independent commission investigating the law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Ellen Gorman questions a witness, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Augusta, Maine, during a hearing of the independent commission investigating the law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Sean Hodgson, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve, wipes tears while recalling the moment he heard about the mass shooting, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Augusta, Maine, during a hearing of the independent commission investigating the law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Daryl Reed, a member of the U.S. Army Reserves, is sworn in before giving testimony Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Augusta, Maine, during a hearing of the independent commission investigating the law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

FILE - This photo released by the Lewiston, Maine, Police Department shows Robert Card, who was responsible for the mass shootings in Lewiston, Maine, on Oct. 25, 2023. Sean Hodgson, a fellow U.S. Army reservist who sounded the clearest warning ahead of Maine’s deadliest mass shooting, is expected to answer questions Thursday, April 25, 2024, from the commission investigating the tragedy. (Lewiston Police Department via AP, File)

Sean Hodgson waits to be called to give testimony, Thursday, April 25, 2024, in Augusta, Maine, during a hearing of the independent commission investigating the law enforcement response to the mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine. Hodgson had alerted an Army supervisor in September that his friend, Robert Card, was capable to doing a mass shooting. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)