2012
The Moscow GU MVD announced that cops arrested about 250 people for an unauthorised rally in the centre of the city. Police released all of the detained demonstrators, including opposition leaders Ilya Yashin, Aleksei Navalny, and Sergei Udaltsov, after they prepared the proper paperwork and administrative reports.
6 March 2012
RIA-Novosti
The OMONtsy Black Berets did what they had to do… out of 14,000 people present, only some 250 to 500 were arrested (2 to 4 percent). That means that over 95 percent of the people were left alone by the coppers. Don’t be lead astray by lurid and melodramatic reportage in the Western press. It wasn’t a popular groundswell, and that’s that.
US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul expressed concern over a crackdown on protesters in downtown Moscow on Monday. Riot police dispersed protesters who tried to prolong an opposition rally at Pushkinskaya Square, detaining hundreds, including prominent whistleblower Aleksei Navalny and leftist leader Sergei Udaltsov. McFaul wrote in his Twitter blog, “Troubling to watch arrests of peaceful demonstrators at Pushkin square. Freedom of assembly and freedom of speech are universal values”.
According to various estimates, between 14,000 and 20,000 people gathered late on Monday for a sanctioned rally to protest Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s overnight victory in the presidential polls, which protesters say were rigged. The event was peaceful until some 2,000 people refused to leave the square after the end of the rally, tried to block traffic on Tverskaya Street, and tried to encircle the Kremlin. Moscow authorities said police acted in line with the law and security regulations to prevent the escalation of tensions and a potential outbreak of violence.
Meanwhile, on Monday, Russian billionaire-turned-politician Mikhail Prokhorov, who came third in the 4 March presidential polls with 7.88 percent of the vote, demanded a probe into the crackdown on protesters. He wrote in his Facebook blog, “I insist on investigating the events on Pushkinskaya Square today in an open court trial. I’m certain that the use of force and detention of opposition politicians could’ve been avoided. I’m appalled by the use of force against people who came to exercise their civil rights”, he said, adding that the tradition of peaceful opposition rallies in the country had been broken.
6 March 2012
RIA-Novosti
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20120306/171778361.html
Editor’s Note:
Firstly, Prokhorov has extensive American holdings, and is often in the USA. Moscow acquaintances tell me that ordinary Russians write him off as a Langley stooge, and so should you. In short, he’s nothing but Chilly Hilly’s running-dog, and you must treat him accordingly… VVP does, that’s for sure. As for Michael McFaul, he should keep his mouth shut. What about the violence meted out by American police to Occupy Movement protestors, Mr McFaul? It’s worse than what the OMON did Monday night. Mr McFaul is silent about the “hanging chads” as well, for that proves that GWB stole the 2000 election… mirabile dictu! There’s dirty politics in America, too… what a concept!
The US Embassy encourages anti-Russian movements, including such religious flotsam-and-jetsam as Sectarians, Uniates, and schismatical screwball “Orthodox” such as Rusantsov’s lot and Yakunin. That’s why no Orthodox Christian, in good conscience, can support the US State Department in any way. It attempts to attack the Rodina by using oddball religious movements to undermine Christ’s Church. It’s gotten so bad and so obvious that even the Blunder sees it and even he’s turning away from the West. He recently quoted Tsar Aleksandr Aleksandrovich approvingly (“Russia has no friends”) and stated that foreign elements fomented the Revolutions in 1917. That’s a 180, kids… it means that the Western threat to the Motherland and to the Faith is REAL.
Russia fought back the Poles in 1612… it fought back the French in 1812… it will fight back the Americans in 2012. Do NOT attack the US government in any way (or advocate any violent action of any sort at all)… you’ll just end in a prison cell for nothing. Simply do not cooperate with their actions against the Rodina and the Church… they can’t throw you in the slam for that (yet). Don’t be silent, either… we still have free speech (for the moment). Also, note who supports the American assault on the Orthosphere amongst us… do not support them in any way, in particular, send them no money. Those of us “in the know” know who they are… one spoke at the American Enterprise Institute (he splits his time between Dallas, the District, and the Island); another is/was a long-time US government official as well as being a priest. I’d say that if you talk to them, you speak directly to those in the US government who hate our Motherland and attack our Faith.
Shall you stand for the False Dmitri and Almighty Mammon or shall you stand with Minin and Pozharsky, who stood for Almighty God? It’s up to you…
BMD
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No Clashes during Moscow Opposition Rally
Tags: Communist Party of the RF, Gennady Gudkov, Gennady Zyuganov, Khimki Forest, KPRF, Left Front, March of Millions, Mikhail Kasyanov, Moscow, peaceful demonstration, peaceful protests, political commentary, politics, Protest, protest actions, protests, Pushkinskaya Square, Russia, Russian, Sergei Udaltsov
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The authorised March of Millions protest in Moscow on Tuesday turned out to be peaceful, with no clashes or provocations reported. Opposition activists marched from Pushkinskaya Square to Prospekt Sakharov in central Moscow. At midday, the participants started gathering on Pushkinskaya Square. To keep the peace during the march, they divided it into two columns, the one on the left comprising communist activists, headed by Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov. The right-hand column featured people belonging to numerous political groups, including environmental activists and gay rights activists, led by Gennady Gudkov, an RF Gosduma Deputy from A Just Russia, Mikhail Kasyanov, co-chairman of the unregistered People’s Democratic Union party, and Yevgeniya Chirikova, the leader of the Defend Khimki Forest movement. The nationalists, who carried imperial yellow-and-black flags, marched to the sound of drumbeats. However, a minor scuffle occurred between the nationalists and gay activists, although it all ended peacefully.
The protesters chanted, “Authority to the millions, not to the millionaires!”, “If we’re united, we aren’t defeated”. Others carried banners reflecting their concerns about the country’s social policies, “We want free healthcare and education”, “Against the rule of red tape”. Maria, a pensioner, said, “The people are all very different here, but we’re all are equally worried about the future of Russia. I’ve come because I care for the future of Russia, for our education, our children, our healthcare. I attend rallies to express my discontent”.
All the participants agreed that the rally was well-organised. Unlike the previous demonstration on 6 May, which ended in clashes with riot police, this time the event unfolded peacefully. Volunteers helped the police to keep order during the march and prevent any provocations. 12,000 police officers were on duty during the march, and both the participants and the passersby praised them. Mikhail Fedotov, the head of the Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, said, “The March of Millions was well-organised, the police were attentive and friendly”. Vladimir, a rally activist, commented, “Everything was organised perfectly! The only problem was that we had too little space to rally, as the number of participants was so large! I’m here to express my worries about what’s been going on in the country. If the people lack confidence in the authorities, they have a right to say this”.
The police say the opposition march attracted 15,000-18,000 people, although the organisers claim the number of participants was much higher. The MVD released images photographed from a helicopter to let the media and the public assess the number of participants on their own. A heavy rain forced many of the participants to leave the rally venue. The opposition leaders invited their supporters to attend the next rally in October.
12 June 2012
Margarita Bogatova
Svetlana Kalmykova
Voice of Russia World Service
http://english.ruvr.ru/2012_06_12/77911869/
Editor’s Note:
What I do is to take the number of marchers claimed by the police and the number claimed by the organisers and split the difference. The exception to this rule is the so-called Pro-Life movement. Personal experience has taught me that many Pro-Life leaders are egregious liars, so, I tend to discount anything (not just figures) I hear from them. They’re nothing but running-dogs for the worst faction of the Hard Right in the Republican Party, sadly enough. As for the present march in Moscow, the organisers claimed 50,000; the police claimed 18,000. The difference is 32,000; so, divide it by two, which comes up to 16,000, so, there were probably about 35,000 marchers in the anti-Putin rally, of whom two out of three were KPRF and Left Front people (based on my view of the available images… a whole lotta red out there).
This proves that the only political parties worthy of the name in Russia are the Left Front and the KPRF. Shall they merge in later years? Perhaps… we’ll be able to see it better after Gennady Zyuganov retires from active politics (since he was born in 1944, it may be near). All other “parties” are really factions centred on one or another political “celebrity”, including United Russia. Does this mean that the “Future is Red?” Not necessarily, but it’s certainly possible.
BMD