Residents of Russia's Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk have continued to show their support for imprisoned former governor Sergey Furgal, with the city's streets seeing mass protests for the 15th day in a row.

Furgal, a highly popular politician in the Far East, was arrested on July 9 on suspicion of ordering two successful murders, and a third failed murder, dating back to the 2000s. Following his detainment, the former governor was flown immediately to Moscow, where he currently awaits his day in court. Many Khabarovsk locals, over 6,000km from the capital, are infuriated that Furgal has been removed by federal powers and will stand trial so far away. Furgal maintains his innocence.

Protesters in Khabarovsk see the charges against Furgal as unsubstantiated and demand he stand trial at home.

"People are offended," said protester Dmitry Kachalin on Saturday. "I think people take to the streets because their vote in the 2018 election was taken away."

Unlike Moscow, where police usually move quickly to disperse unsanctioned opposition protests, authorities have not interfered with the unauthorised demonstrations in the city of Khabarovsk, located 6,100km (3,800 miles) east of the Russian capital.

But daily protests, peaking at weekends, have continued for two weeks, reflecting anger against what residents see as Moscow's disrespect of their choice for governor and simmering discontent with Putin's rule. Local officials' attempts to discourage people from joining the demonstrations by warning about the risk of coronavirus infection have been unsuccessful.