Opposition and the party in power stage mass actions
Last weekend saw the most massive street rallies over the financial crisis in recent times. The opposition called for the resignation of the Putin Government. United Russia activists took to the streets to defend their leader. No clashes between civilians occurred but several dozen opposition protesters suffered as a result of provocations and in clashes with the police.
"Those who disagree" demonstrate on Polyanka.
The "Another Russia" coalition had declared Saturday to be the "Day of Those Who Disagree" and promised to hold unauthorised rallies in Moscow. A score of the members of the National Bolshevik Party marched along Veshnyakovskaya Street towards Vykhino, where their fellow member Anton Stradymov was murdered on January 14. They carried a banner with the words "Blood for Blood" and chanted "We shall not forget, we shall not forgive" and "Our name is Eduard Limonov". When they reached the Vykhino metro station, the Limonovites saw a police car, waved at it and scattered.
Their leader, Eduard Limonov, came to Triumfalnaya Square with his bodyguards holding the text of the Constitution. "We are having our own rally here," Mr Limonov told the police. "No, it has not been sanctioned. But under Article 31 of the Russian Constitution..." He was not allowed to read out the Article about freedom of assembly because he was knocked off his feet by husky fellows in sportswear and hauled to the police van. The text of the Constitution was left lying in the mud. Mr Limonov was sentenced to 24 hours of administrative arrest for organising an unsanctioned rally and was released yesterday afternoon.
About a hundred activists of the United Civil Front, the Oborona and Smena movements gathered at the Ulitsa 1905 Goda metro station on Saturday. To the surprise of the dozen or so policemen who watched them inside the station, the protesters did not head for the exit but took a train to the Polyanka Station. They started chanting "Putin is Russia's disgrace" in the busy underpass between Chekhovskaya and Pushkinskaya stations. "Down with the power of the CheKa," they shouted after cramming themselves into a car. The passengers in the car looked scared and remained silent.
Once they reached Bolshaya Polyanka Street, they easily blocked the traffic and stretched an orange-black banner with the words "March of Those Who Disagree" and headed for Serpukhovskaya Square.
"This is our city," the protesters chanted their usual slogans. "Down with the police state!" The "disagreers" encountered their first obstacle after marching about 300 metres. Two cars approached them from behind and out came six men wearing hoods and track suits. "OK, you scum, who is going to be first?" shouted the biggest of them. The beginning of the street fight went to the attackers, whom the marchers identified as pro-Kremlin youth activists. One of the protesters had his nose broken and another his face smashed. The situation changed when a young man with a scarf over his face sprayed the attackers from a gas spray can. The attackers cursed and retreated as the protesters chanted: "Young Pioneers, go to hell!"
The police did not appear until the "March of Those who Disagree" had paraded in front of the Yakimanka police station. The policemen quickly detained three people. But that was about all they managed to do. When they attempted to grab the flags and detain the marchers, the policemen were simply pushed out of the crowd. "Enough, quiet," one of the policemen pleaded. A police captain stopped a group of military cadets and tried to dragoon them into detaining the protesters. But they refused under the pretext that their commander had not given such an order.
The "March of Those who Disagree" reached Bolshaya Ordynka Street as its participants chanted: "We want to breathe freely", applauded each other and disappeared in the underpass. The OMON unit which arrived ten minutes later inspected the underpass and blocked traffic in Bolshaya Polyanka with its vans.
Also as part of the national protest action, the Communists held their rally on Triumphalnaya Square on Saturday. The 1,500 KPRF supporters were watched by almost as many policemen, the OMON, soldiers and plainclothes police. "The economic team in the Kremlin and the Government is absolutely not coping," the KPRF leader Gennady Zyuganov was speaking from a truck which had a banner that read: "No Capitalism, No Crisis."
As he spoke somebody threw two smoke sticks into the crowd. Policemen dashed into the crowd and dragged out a young man who had unfurled a black and white Nationalist Bolshevik flag. OMON commandos made inroads into the crowd to drag out protesters and carry them to police vans. Because of the cold the rally finished earlier than planned, elderly people left. Only a group of people who had stayed on Triumphalnaya Square chanted "We need another Russia". The OMON received an order over their walkie-talkie "to clear the square", whereupon the whole group was detained. Those who resisted were beaten.
An official account of the "March of Those Who Disagree" says that the police had detained more than 40 people, most of them National Bolsheviks. Those who were not detained gathered in front of the Federation Council building on Saturday evening with a banner "It's Time to Change the Government". They lit torches and chanted "Down with Putin" and then ran away.
The party got its orders.
The United Russia tried to counter those who protested against the Government policy. The decisions "to explain the Government's measures" by staging "various street rallies" was taken at a secret meeting of the party's regional branch on January 16, which was attended by First Deputy Chief of the President's Executive Office Vladislav Surkov. It was a response to the mass protests against the introduction of high customs duties on foreign-made cars and growing housing and utilities tariffs early in the year.
In Moscow the rally took place on Manezh Square, where the participants were delivered by bus. Judging from posters with the caption "Ostankino" the demonstrators were bused in an organised fashion from their respective districts. According to police data, about 5,000 people gathered in the square, mainly young people from the United Russia's Young Guard.
Their main slogan was "The Nation! Medvedev! Putin! Together We Shall Win!" Several people were holding a huge poster with the dour faces of the country's leaders. The caption underneath read: "We trust Medvedev and Putin". Tea was freely served and younger activists had managed to smuggle beer and brandy past the police cordons.
"Gathered here in response to the Party's call are those who love our country and support Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. Those who care about the country's future," said Andrei Isayev, deputy secretary of the presidium of United Russia's General Council, speaking from the platform. But the star of the rally was Maria Sergeyeva, a Young Guard activist. "United Russia is our national doctor Doolittle, she explained. And for those who curse our domestic cars our answer is simple: Go and make better ones. You can't? Then go and learn. Tell Putin how to make Lada a better car than a Lexus. You don't know how? Then how dare you curse our cars." Television presenter Vladimir Solovyov assured those gathered that "we are an ideal team" and said, "Enough gabbing and whining, we should build a great country that has excellent roads."
Kommersant's correspondent asked a student carrying a United Russia flag why he had come to the rally, only to get a candid answer: "They give me a credit for attending." Several people from the opposition movement Smena appeared among the picketers. They held a piggy bank and a small poster, "Help Gazprom". The irony was lost on the pro-Kremlin protesters, who readily dropped coins into the piggy bank, many even tried to stuff banknotes into it.
Mr Isayev read out a resolution of the rally, which voiced absolute support for Messrs Putin and Medvedev, whereupon the participants, who were covered in snow, dispersed with obvious relief. All in all, the weekend saw about 160 rallies both in support of the Government and against it. About 200,000 people took part, according to preliminary police figures.
Andrei Voronov; Alexander Turovsky