In Khabarovsk it has become a nightly ritual.
A small group of protesters gathers on Lenin Square before marching off through the city centre. Along the way, more people tag along. The chanting grows louder, as does the cacophony of car horns signalling approval.
The demonstrators, who are risking arrest, are shouting slogans in support of the local governor, Sergei Furgal. Last week he was detained by officers who had flown in specially from Moscow. Mr Furgal has been charged with involvement in multiple murders dating back 15 years. He denies it. He’s now behind bars in the Russian capital. That has sparked anger in Khabarovsk.
“When our governor was arrested, everybody took it as their personal tragedy,” one of the protesters, Alexander, tells me. “We elected this person and we feel like we’ve been robbed, that he was stolen from us for political reasons. People feel Moscow spat in their faces.”
“But they say he’s been involved in murders,” I point out.
“For 15 years he was a politician,” Alexander says. “In Russia there is a file on every politician. At a certain time, it can be taken out of the box and a person can be accused of anything.”
In many ways, Sergei Furgal is an unlikely hero. A former businessman, he went into politics with the ultra-nationalist Liberal-Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR). Though, on paper, an opposition party, the LDPR is very much part of the Kremlin-approved political system.
In 2018 Mr Furgal ran for governor of Khabarovsk region, but was widely seen as a technical candidate, with little chance – or even desire – to win. Due to a massive protest vote against Moscow, Mr Furgal trounced the Kremlin’s candidate. As governor he became a charismatic, tough-talking and popular politician. Many here tell me he is more popular in the region than President Putin.
“The Kremlin are making sociological polls all the time, watching what is going on with the popularity of regional officials and of Vladimir Putin,” political analyst Nikolai Petrov explains. “And in the event of regional leaders becoming more popular they are undertaking certain moves.”