Opposition rally encircles central Moscow

Russian opposition activists attempted Sunday to make a ring, holding hands in a circle around downtown Moscow in a flashmob protest. They demand fair presidential elections on March 4, which Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is set to win. Opposition rally encircles central Moscow “Participants managed to lock the human chain around the 15.4-kilometer-long Garden Ring road that encircles central Moscow,” said leftist leader Segrei Udaltsov, who traveled the length of the ring in a car. Police said 11,000 opposition activists took part in the flashmob while the organizers put the figure at 40,000. The chain was broken along the road intersections so as not to block car traffic. The flashmob was the latest in a series of protest rallies that followed parliamentary elections won by Putin’s United Russia party in early December which critics say were marred by fraud. The demonstrations have been the largest anti-government protests seen in Moscow since the early 1990s. The organizers of Sunday’s grassroots protest have said that they chose this kind of a demonstration because it does not require permission from the Moscow City Hall. Hundreds of police were deployed downtown, but did not intervene. The event’s website, 26feb.ru, said that 34,000 people would be needed to “lock” the human chain along the Garden Ring. Meanwhile, only 14,000 people confirmed their participation in the flash mob on the group’s Facebook page, a far smaller number than for previous opposition demonstrations which mobilized tens of thousands of people. Opposition leaders Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Ryzhkov, Boris Nemtsov and Ilya Yashin, as well as politically conscious TV hosts Tatiana Lazareva and Ksenia Sobchak, were also in the human chain. Presidential candidate Gennady Zyuganov and former Finance Minister and Putin’s friend Alexei Kudrin endorsed the flashmob, but did not attend, while Zyuganov’s rival Vladimir Zhirinovsky strolled along the human chain, but did not join. A motorized opposition rally, the third of its kind this year, took place on the Garden Ring at the same time as the flashmob, the drivers slowing down and honking their car horns to loud cheers from the human chain. In a first, anti-opposition activists turned out at the protest event, dozens of them crowding around the Park Kultury metro, with posters “Putin loves everyone” and chants of “Putin and Victory!” Counter-chants of “Putin go away!” were heard, and verbal spats between opposition activists and Putin’s supporters, who numbered many sturdy young men and excited teenage girls, flashed in some places, but no outright clashes took place. Some 130,000, mostly state employees, rallied in support of Putin on February 23 in Moscow. Opposition insisted that many participants were forced or paid to attend, though organizers said the majority came voluntarily. (Tanjug) Ria novosti

Opposition rally encircles central Moscow

“Participants managed to lock the human chain around the 15.4-kilometer-long Garden Ring road that encircles central Moscow,” said leftist leader Segrei Udaltsov, who traveled the length of the ring in a car.

Police said 11,000 opposition activists took part in the flashmob while the organizers put the figure at 40,000. The chain was broken along the road intersections so as not to block car traffic.

The flashmob was the latest in a series of protest rallies that followed parliamentary elections won by Putin’s United Russia party in early December which critics say were marred by fraud. The demonstrations have been the largest anti-government protests seen in Moscow since the early 1990s.

The organizers of Sunday’s grassroots protest have said that they chose this kind of a demonstration because it does not require permission from the Moscow City Hall. Hundreds of police were deployed downtown, but did not intervene.

The event’s website, 26feb.ru, said that 34,000 people would be needed to “lock” the human chain along the Garden Ring. Meanwhile, only 14,000 people confirmed their participation in the flash mob on the group’s Facebook page, a far smaller number than for previous opposition demonstrations which mobilized tens of thousands of people.

Opposition leaders Alexei Navalny, Vladimir Ryzhkov, Boris Nemtsov and Ilya Yashin, as well as politically conscious TV hosts Tatiana Lazareva and Ksenia Sobchak, were also in the human chain.

Presidential candidate Gennady Zyuganov and former Finance Minister and Putin’s friend Alexei Kudrin endorsed the flashmob, but did not attend, while Zyuganov’s rival Vladimir Zhirinovsky strolled along the human chain, but did not join.

A motorized opposition rally, the third of its kind this year, took place on the Garden Ring at the same time as the flashmob, the drivers slowing down and honking their car horns to loud cheers from the human chain.

In a first, anti-opposition activists turned out at the protest event, dozens of them crowding around the Park Kultury metro, with posters “Putin loves everyone” and chants of “Putin and Victory!”

Counter-chants of “Putin go away!” were heard, and verbal spats between opposition activists and Putin’s supporters, who numbered many sturdy young men and excited teenage girls, flashed in some places, but no outright clashes took place.

Some 130,000, mostly state employees, rallied in support of Putin on February 23 in Moscow. Opposition insisted that many participants were forced or paid to attend, though organizers said the majority came voluntarily.