Public anger over alleged electoral fraud in favor of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s party is expected to bring thousands out onto the streets of Russia on Saturday in the largest demonstrations here for almost two decades, RIA Novosti reports. The demonstration is sanctioned by Moscow authorities and will take place on Bolotnaya Square at 14.00 (10.00 GMT). Some 50,000 people expressed their intention to take part in the demonstration in respective Facebook and Vkontakte groups, radio ‘Echo Moskvi’ reports. The organizers of the event – Russian liberal opposition democratic movement ‘Solidarnost’ – expect some 20,000 to come, while yesterday the city authorities sanctioned a rally of 30,000. Initially the demonstration was to take place on Revolution Square and only 300 people were allowed to participate.
"Now is the time to unite...we are demanding new elections," prominent opposition activist Yevgeniya Chirikova said in an Internet video address on the eve of the rallies.
Representatives of Russian opposition parties ‘Yabloko’ and ‘A Just Russia’ are to join the demonstration. The founder of popular Russian social internet network ‘Vkontakte’, Pavel Durov, said this week he had refused a request by the security services to deactivate accounts belonging to opposition groups. Yesterday, Pavel Durov received a summons from the St.-Petersburg Prosecutor’s office, however, the paper came too late and Mr Durov failed to comply. Now he is facing possible administrative violation charges, Echo Moskvi reports.
The main demands of the protesters and their supporters are freedom for political convicts and revoking the results of the parliamentary polls, which the opposition deems to be falsified.
Similar protests – both sanctioned and unsanctioned – are expected to take place later in the day in dozens of cities across Russia, as well as in some 20 other countries, including the UK, Germany and Japan.
Some 150 people have already taken to the streets in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok on Saturday to protest against the alleged fraud in Sunday’s parliamentary vote, local police said. The protesters gathered on the seaside Korabelnaya Embankment, carrying placards with photocopies of election protocols, which they claim have been rigged in favor of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party, the Komsomolskaya Pravda daily reported.
The report put the number of protesters at 200, while other media reports said about 300 people had taken part in the rally. Some 50 police officers and riot troops were deployed to provide security during the demonstration.
A lot of opposition activists have been detained during previous opposition demonstrations, some of them, including opposition leaders A. Navalniy and I. Yashin, remain under arrest. Today protesters detained at the Simferopol Boulevard police facility in Moscow carried out a peaceful protest action to demonstrate their solidarity with those who’ll take part in protest actions on the streets, Echo Moskvi reports.
Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said on Thursday that citizens “should be given a right to express their opinion” if they are “acting within law.” But if they do break the rules, he said, the authorities should take action “by legal means.” Putin also accused the United States of being behind the protests, saying that criticism of last Sunday’s parliamentary polls by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton "set the tone for some opposition activists" and also "gave them a signal."
The protests have been largely ignored by state-run televisions channels, which chose instead to broadcast images of United Russia supporters parading near the Kremlin. According to the ‘Echo Moskvi’ radio station, well-known Russian NTV journalist Alexei Pivovarov refused to go on air with Saturday’s evening news unless the channel’s managers agree to include information about the widely-expected mass demonstration in Moscow in the program.
