the biggest anti-government rally to be held in Russia for two decades.
The crowd of up to 50,000 who had come to protest against last weekend's allegedly rigged parliamentary election filled a square directly opposite the citadel that houses Russia's authoritarian government, and its mood was both defiant and upbeat.
Space was at a premium and people hung off bridges, stood on benches and squeezed into nearby streets, listening as best they could even though the protest was so big that it was impossible for some to hear precisely what was being said.
"Russia without Putin! Russia without Putin!" they roared as they craned their necks to glimpse and hear the slightly-built internet blogger who had just taken to the open-air stage.
Oleg Kashin, who beaten to within an inch of his life last year for writing something the authorities did not like, appeared to be without fear as he addressed his audience, at the biggest anti-government rally to be held in Russia for two decades.
"They have been feeding us that line for the last 12 years. We're sick of it. It is time to break the break the chains. We are not cattle or slaves. We have a voice and we have the strength to get ourselves heard."
It is true there had been many opposition protests before but they were usually poorly attended, swiftly and violently broken up by the authorities, and put precious little pressure on the Kremlin.
Police estimated that at least 25,000 people had turned up, while the protest's organisers claimed attendance was pushing 100,000. Independent observers put the figure at up to 50,000.
Yevgeniya Chirikova, an opposition activist who has become one of the Kremlin's most implacable enemies since she started campaigning against a new Kremlin-backed road that has laid waste to her local forest.
"A new Russia will begin," she said. "These are the most civilised protests in the world. There is no broken glass, no broken bottles and no burned out cars. We just want a new election and we will get it."
the head of the country's central electoral commission is a staunch Putin supporter who is on record as saying that "Putin is always right."
international election monitors saw things differently, reporting serious ballot stuffing and said the contest was dramatically tilted in the favour of "one player.
The crowd of up to 50,000 who had come to protest against last weekend's allegedly rigged parliamentary election filled a square directly opposite the citadel that houses Russia's authoritarian government, and its mood was both defiant and upbeat.
Space was at a premium and people hung off bridges, stood on benches and squeezed into nearby streets, listening as best they could even though the protest was so big that it was impossible for some to hear precisely what was being said.
"Russia without Putin! Russia without Putin!" they roared as they craned their necks to glimpse and hear the slightly-built internet blogger who had just taken to the open-air stage.
Oleg Kashin, who beaten to within an inch of his life last year for writing something the authorities did not like, appeared to be without fear as he addressed his audience, at the biggest anti-government rally to be held in Russia for two decades.
"They have been feeding us that line for the last 12 years. We're sick of it. It is time to break the break the chains. We are not cattle or slaves. We have a voice and we have the strength to get ourselves heard."
It is true there had been many opposition protests before but they were usually poorly attended, swiftly and violently broken up by the authorities, and put precious little pressure on the Kremlin.
Police estimated that at least 25,000 people had turned up, while the protest's organisers claimed attendance was pushing 100,000. Independent observers put the figure at up to 50,000.
Yevgeniya Chirikova, an opposition activist who has become one of the Kremlin's most implacable enemies since she started campaigning against a new Kremlin-backed road that has laid waste to her local forest.
"A new Russia will begin," she said. "These are the most civilised protests in the world. There is no broken glass, no broken bottles and no burned out cars. We just want a new election and we will get it."
the head of the country's central electoral commission is a staunch Putin supporter who is on record as saying that "Putin is always right."
international election monitors saw things differently, reporting serious ballot stuffing and said the contest was dramatically tilted in the favour of "one player.
Source:
Telegraph
Telegraph
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