Tens of thousands of people joined Saturday’s protest in Moscow. According to the police, 20,000 protesters gathered in Bolotnaya Square and 5,000 more crowded into adjacent areas. The organizers of the meeting claimed that 40,000 people took part.
Tens of thousands of people joined Saturday’s protest in Moscow. According to the police, 20,000 protesters gathered in Bolotnaya Square and 5,000 more crowded into adjacent areas. The organizers of the meeting claimed that 40,000 people took part.
Last Saturday, Russians expressed their feelings about the results of the December 4 parliamentary elections in which the pro-Kremlin United Russia party kept their majority in the lower house. The organizers, the opposition movements Left Front and Solidarnost, had estimated the potential turnout at 30,000.
At around 3 p.m., the police warned the crowds against using the Luzhkov Bridge, adjacent to Bolotnaya Square, citing the concerns of experts who feared it might not withstand the weight of 1,000 people walking across it in tightly packed rows.
The meeting began later than planned because organizers waited for another crowd, which had gathered in Revolution Square, to reach Bolotnaya Square.
The authorities orchestrated the crowd's movement as six columns proceeded one behind the other toward the designated site of the officially-sanctioned protest. Russia's human rights ombudsman Vladimir Lukin and human rights activist Lev Ponomaryov walked with the last column.
The organizers of the Bolotnaya rally stated their chief demands, which included cancelling the results of the election and the release of all political prisoners. Ilya Ponomaryov, A Just Russia MP , who spoke first, said the crowds gathered in Bolotnaya Square were not protesting against anything, but in support of “honest and fair elections and democracy.”
Oksana Dmitriyeva, leader of the St. Petersburg faction of A Just Russia, talked about the election fraud witnessed in St. Petersburg. The crowd began chanting “Give up your mandates.” Vladimir Ryzhkov, the protest moderator, suggested a different chant, “These are not elections,” which the crowd joined in with.
Rally for free and fair elections in Bolotnaya Square
Rally for free and fair elections in Bolotnaya Square
Rally for free and fair elections in Bolotnaya Square
Rally for free and fair elections in Bolotnaya Square
Rally for free and fair elections in Bolotnaya Square
Rally for free and fair elections in Bolotnaya Square
Journalist Leonid Parfenov speaks at the rally for free and fair elections in Bolotnaya Square.
Yabloko party chairman Sergei Mitrokhin speaks at the rally for free and fair elections in Bolotnaya Square.
Co-chairman of the Solidarnost movement Boris Nemtsov speaks at the rally for free and fair elections in Bolotnaya Square
Participants of the rally for free and fair elections on the Luzhkov Bridge near Bolotnaya Square.
