Vladimir Putin fears democracy so much, he won’t even give the opposition a shot at winning Moscow City Council races.

In a violent crackdown in the Russian capital, police this past weekend rounded up more than 1,000 demonstrators among the 8,000 who’d taken to the streets to demand election officials let opposition candidates run for council. Police beat some of the protesters, breaking bones and inflicting head wounds.

All told, officials had blocked 30 anti-Putin hopefuls, claiming they failed to get enough signatures to get on the ballot. Yet the process was rigged from the start.

When Putin’s minions realized the opposition might win, they upped the signature requirement to 5,000 — at the height of vacation season.

And when the candidates still met the new requirement, the election commission simply disqualified signatures over minor technicalities — with regime officials likely adding errors where “needed.”

That sparked calls for protests, including from oppo leader Alexei Navalny — who was then arrested, along with other prominent anti-Putinites.

Sentenced to 30 days detention, Navalny soon had to be hospitalized for a mysterious “acute allergic reaction.” His doctor suspected poisoning, but the hospital refused to do tests or allow an independent exam.

The weekend protests followed an even larger one last week that drew 22,000, the largest in Russia in years.

“If we lose now, elections will cease to exist as a political instrument,” warns Dmitry Gudkov, one of the disqualified candidates. Alas, it may already be too late.