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MOSCOW — An extraordinarywave of antigovernment protestsswept across Russia on Monday,as thousands of demonstratorsgathered in more than 100 cities todenounce corruption and politicalstagnation despite official at-tempts to stifle the expression ofoutrage.

Riot police officers in citieslarge and small detained hun-dreds of participants, with morethan 700 apprehended in Moscowand 300 in St. Petersburg, accord-ing to OVD-Info, an independentorganization that tracks arrests.There were reports of hundreds ofdetentions elsewhere, too.

In Moscow, the police arrestedthe Kremlin foe and anticorrup-tion crusader Aleksei A. Navalny,the main architect of the protestson Monday and similar ones inMarch, as he left his apartment toattend the demonstration down-town. A Moscow court quicklysentenced him to 30 days in jail fororganizing an unauthorized pro-test.

The recent outpourings of popu-lar discontent, spurred on by Mr.Navalny, have been the biggestantigovernment demonstrationsin Russia in years.

After witnessing the geogra-phic sweep of the protests onMonday and the enthusiastic re-solve of the mostly young parti-cipants in the face of a harsh po-lice presence, some analysts cameaway saying that Russian politicswas being reborn.

“I think we are seeing the begin-ning of a youth protest move-ment,” said Anatoly Golubovsky, aRussian historian surveying thecrowd at one corner of Moscow’s

IN OVER 100 CITIES,PROTESTERS HEED ANTI-KREMLIN CRY

RALLYING ACROSS RUSSIA

Hundreds Are Detainedin an Extraordinary

Show of Outrage

By NEIL MacFARQUHARand IVAN NECHEPURENKO

Officers blocked a protester in central Moscow. The organizer of Monday’s rallies, Aleksei A. Navalny, was arrested, tried and jailed.ALEXANDER ZEMLIANICHENKO/ASSOCIATED PRESS

Continued on Page A9

DAPU, China — The small boycould no longer recognize thesound of his mother’s voice. Bonyand pale, vanishing beneath awinter coat, he spoke mostly ingrunts and screams, the languageof his malady. He stumbled as hewalked, never certain of theground beneath him.

Wang Yifei, 5, was destined for abetter life, his family thought. Toensure years of good fortune, theyrelied on traditions that had al-ways guided them: making cer-tain his mother stepped over hotcoals on her wedding day and

lining his crib with white cloth tofend off wayward spirits.

But Yifei had fallen ill, and likemore than 300 other children inDapu, a town of 62,000 in HunanProvince, in central China, he ex-perienced hearing loss, impairedspeech and difficulty walking.Many other children also strug-gled with memory problems,stunted growth, anemia andseizures.

Doctors eventually determinedthat the children had lead poison-ing and pointed to a nearby fac-tory, Meilun Chemical Materials,which produced pigments for usein paints and makeup powder. Up-set and demanding accountability,

dozens of families prepared tosue.

Yet in Dapu, as in much of Chi-na’s rural heartland, the chemicalindustry is king — the backbone ofyears of above-average economicgrowth. Local Communist Partyofficials depended on Meilun andother plants for their livelihoodsand political fortunes, and they

had a history of ignoring envi-ronmental violations to keep thefactories humming.

Yifei’s father, Wang Jiaoyi, didnot anticipate the backlash to thelawsuit. First, he said, his co-workers at a local farm warnedthat he might lose his job packingvegetables. Then thugs showedup at his door, threatening to hurthis family. After months of pres-sure, Mr. Wang decided to dropthe case.

“There’s no way to win,” he said.“There’s no such thing as justice.”

After a decade in which compa-nies in wealthier nations exportedto poorer ones much of the dirty

‘No Such Thing as Justice’ in Chemical Pollution Fight in ChinaBy JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ

Washing food in a polluted river in Dapu, China. The country is now the world’s largest manufacturer of industrial chemicals.LAM YIK FEI FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES

Taking On an IndustryUnder the Law, butRarely Prevailing

Continued on Page A8

Shakespeare’s “Julius Caesar”has always been about more thankilling Julius Caesar.

On the eve of World War II, Or-son Welles staged a landmarkanti-Fascist production with aMussolini-like Caesar. The RoyalShakespeare Company recently

set the play in Africa, powerfullyevoking the continent’s dictatorsand civil wars. Five years ago, theGuthrie Theater in Minneapolisstaged a production featuring theassassination of an Obama-esqueCaesar by a group of right-wingconspirators.

But it’s the Public Theater inNew York that finds itself in themiddle of a pitched controversy,

for its new staging of the play atthe Delacorte Theater in CentralPark. Oskar Eustis, the director,chose to make his Caesar decided-ly Trumpian, giving him a shock ofhair, an overlong red tie and a wifewith a recognizably Slovenian ac-cent. As all Caesars are, he’s killedin the middle of the play — bloodi-ly — by Brutus and his band of co-conspirators.

That killing has driven DeltaAir Lines and Bank of America topull all or part of their sponsorshipof the Public Theater’s free Shake-speare in the Park program, andthrust the theater into a mael-strom of criticism from PresidentTrump’s supporters.

“Julius Caesar,” with assassina-tion at its core, is politically

In ‘Julius Caesar,’ an Assassination Echoes Across the CenturiesBy MICHAEL COOPER

Continued on Page A24

WASHINGTON — One by one,they praised President Trump,taking turns complimenting hisintegrity, his message, hisstrength, his policies. Their leadersat smiling, nodding his approval.

“The greatest privilege of mylife is to serve as vice president tothe president who’s keeping hisword to the American people,”Mike Pence said, starting thingsoff.

“I am privileged to be here —deeply honored — and I want tothank you for your commitment tothe American workers,” said Alex-ander Acosta, the secretary of la-bor.

Sonny Perdue, the agriculturesecretary, had just returned fromMississippi and had a message todeliver. “They love you there,” heoffered, grinning across the an-tique table at Mr. Trump.

Reince Priebus, the chief of staffwhose job insecurity has been thesubject of endless speculation,outdid them all, telling the presi-dent — and the assembled newscameras — “We thank you for theopportunity and the blessing toserve your agenda.”

So it went on Monday in theCabinet Room of the White House,as Mr. Trump transformed a rou-tine meeting of senior members ofhis government into a mood-boosting, ego-stroking display of

Flatterers First,Then PresidentPraises Himself

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS

Continued on Page A12

More than two dozen rush-hour trainswill be canceled or rerouted at Pennsyl-vania Station. PAGE A23

NEW YORK A20-25

L.I.R.R. Sets Summer Detours

The Circle Line train takes three hoursto travel a 28-mile loop around Myan-mar’s largest city. Tourists rave, but itscharms are lost on locals. PAGE A4

INTERNATIONAL A4-9

A Slow, Steamy Commute

The defending champions are 31-32 aftera loss to the Mets — but they’re not farfrom first place. On Baseball. PAGE B9

Cubs Scuffling but Surviving

The departure of Emil Michael, a mem-ber of the chief executive’s inner circle,comes after a series of scandals at thecompany led to an inquiry that recom-mended his removal. PAGE B1

BUSINESS DAY B1-8

A Top Executive Leaves Uber

The administration wants to erodemany of the regulations put in placeafter the 2008 financial crisis, includingstripping power from the ConsumerFinancial Protection Bureau. PAGE B1

Unraveling Dodd-Frank

David Leonhardt PAGE A27

EDITORIAL, OP-ED A26-27

With undertones hostile or forgiving,Summer Jam welcomes dozens of bignames, like Desiigner, but with a bit lessedge than in the past. PAGE C1

ARTS C1-8

Hip-Hop CelebrationA second federal appeals court saysPresident Trump’s executive order tolimit immigration is illegal. PAGE A17

Travel Ban Rejected Again

American programs to target internetuse by the Islamic State have largelydisappointed, officials say. PAGE A5

ISIS Eludes Digital Weapons

General Electric, the 125-year-old industrial giant whose jet en-gines propel air travelers aroundthe globe and whose electricalgenerators light millions of house-holds, declared on Monday that itwould be installing its first newleader in 16 years.

Jeffrey R. Immelt, 61, the de-parting chief executive, trans-formed G.E. over the past decade,jettisoning most of its once-hugefinancial business, which seemedto threaten the company’s sur-vival after the 2008 economic cri-sis. Wall Street applauded thosemoves, but investors grew disen-chanted as the company’s stockprice and profits stagnated in re-cent years.

His successor, John Flannery,55, is a longtime G.E. executivewho has spent much of his careerin finance and deal making, rais-ing expectations among someobservers that he might look tosell off pieces of the sprawlingcompany. Mr. Flannery told ana-lysts that he would embark on a“comprehensive review” of allG.E. businesses “with speed, ur-gency and no constraints.”

Mr. Flannery’s tenure may welldetermine the shape and the eco-nomic role of conglomerates likeG.E. — expansive companies withseemingly limitless business am-bitions — that once defined an

G.E., PressuredBy Its Investors,Changes Leader

By STEVE LOHR

Continued on Page A18

WASHINGTON — A longtimefriend of President Trump said onMonday that Mr. Trump was con-sidering whether to fire Robert S.Mueller III, the special counsel in-vestigating possible ties betweenthe president’s campaign andRussian officials.

The startling assertion comesas some of Mr. Trump’s conserva-tive allies, who initially praisedMr. Mueller’s selection as specialcounsel, have begun trying to at-tack his credibility.

The friend, Christopher Ruddy,the chief executive of NewsmaxMedia, who was at the WhiteHouse on Monday, said on PBS’s“NewsHour” that Mr. Trump was“considering, perhaps, terminat-ing the special counsel.”

“I think he’s weighing that op-tion,” Mr. Ruddy said.

His comments appeared to takethe White House by surprise.

“Mr. Ruddy never spoke to thepresident regarding this issue,”Sean Spicer, the White Housepress secretary, said in a state-ment hours later. “With respect tothis subject, only the president orhis attorneys are authorized tocomment.”

Allies of the president castdoubt on the idea that Mr. Trumpwould take such a drastic step,and White House officials said Mr.Ruddy had not met directly withthe president while he was there.

Firing Mr. Mueller would be apolitically explosive move thatwould raise new questions aboutMr. Trump, whose abrupt dismiss-al of James B. Comey as F.B.I. di-rector generated accusations ofobstruction of justice and led to

FRIEND SUGGESTS TRUMP MAY FIRE SPECIAL COUNSEL

MUELLER NOW A TARGET

Allies Express Doubt —Spokesman Denies

Talk Took Place

By MICHAEL D. SHEARand MAGGIE HABERMAN

Continued on Page A12

A judge will consider whether a confi-dante bears responsibility in ateenager’s suicide after she sent himmessages urging him on. PAGE A19

NATIONAL A10-19

At Trial, Texts Tell of Deep Pain

Led by Kevin Durant, the finals M.V.P.,Golden State secured its second title inthree years, defeating Cleveland in fivegames to avenge a 2016 loss. PAGE B9

SPORTSTUESDAY B9-13

Warriors Are Golden Again

Late Edition

VOL. CLXVI . . . No. 57,627 + © 2017 The New York Times Company NEW YORK, TUESDAY, JUNE 13, 2017

Today, near-record heat, humid,late-day thunderstorms, high 92. To-night, cloudy, low 70. Tomorrow,cooler, less humid, sunshine, high80. Weather map is on Page A22.

$2.50