Anti-Putin protest gains momentum
Source: Agencies |
December 25, 2011, Sunday
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Tens of thousands of demonstrators yesterday cheered opposition leaders and jeered the Kremlin in the biggest show of outrage yet against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule.
The Moscow demonstration was even bigger than a similar rally two weeks ago, signaling that the protest movement ignited by the fraud-tainted December 4 parliamentary election may be growing. Protests were also held in dozens of other cities and towns across Russia.
Rally participants densely packed a broad avenue, which has room for nearly 100,000 people, about 2.5 kilometers from the Kremlin, as the temperature dipped well below freezing. They chanted "Russia without Putin!"
A stage at the end of the 700-meter avenue featured placards reading "Russia will be free" and "This election Is a farce." Heavy police cordons encircled the participants, who stood within metal barriers, and a police helicopter hovered overhead.
Alexei Navalny, a corruption-fighting lawyer and popular blogger, electrified the crowd when he took the stage. A rousing speaker, he had protesters shouting "We are the power!"
Navalny spent 15 days in jail for leading a protest on December 5 that unexpectedly drew more than 5,000 people and set off the chain of demonstrations. Since his release, he has helped to further galvanize the opposition.
Putin's United Russia party lost 25 percent of its seats in the election, but hung onto a majority in parliament through what independent observers said was widespread fraud. United Russia, seen as representing a corrupt bureaucracy, has become known as the party of crooks and thieves, a phrase coined by Navalny.
"We have enough people here to take the Kremlin," he shouted to the crowd. "But we are peaceful people and we won't do that - yet. But if these crooks and thieves keep cheating us, we will take what is ours."
The recent protests in Moscow and other cities have dented Putin's authority as he seeks to reclaim the presidency in a March vote. The Kremlin has responded by promising a set of political reforms that would allow more political competition in future elections.
The Moscow demonstration was even bigger than a similar rally two weeks ago, signaling that the protest movement ignited by the fraud-tainted December 4 parliamentary election may be growing. Protests were also held in dozens of other cities and towns across Russia.
Rally participants densely packed a broad avenue, which has room for nearly 100,000 people, about 2.5 kilometers from the Kremlin, as the temperature dipped well below freezing. They chanted "Russia without Putin!"
A stage at the end of the 700-meter avenue featured placards reading "Russia will be free" and "This election Is a farce." Heavy police cordons encircled the participants, who stood within metal barriers, and a police helicopter hovered overhead.
Alexei Navalny, a corruption-fighting lawyer and popular blogger, electrified the crowd when he took the stage. A rousing speaker, he had protesters shouting "We are the power!"
Navalny spent 15 days in jail for leading a protest on December 5 that unexpectedly drew more than 5,000 people and set off the chain of demonstrations. Since his release, he has helped to further galvanize the opposition.
Putin's United Russia party lost 25 percent of its seats in the election, but hung onto a majority in parliament through what independent observers said was widespread fraud. United Russia, seen as representing a corrupt bureaucracy, has become known as the party of crooks and thieves, a phrase coined by Navalny.
"We have enough people here to take the Kremlin," he shouted to the crowd. "But we are peaceful people and we won't do that - yet. But if these crooks and thieves keep cheating us, we will take what is ours."
The recent protests in Moscow and other cities have dented Putin's authority as he seeks to reclaim the presidency in a March vote. The Kremlin has responded by promising a set of political reforms that would allow more political competition in future elections.
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