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Monday, 05.12.2011
In Russia, protests against the elections are growing
Moscow. The Kremlin suffered massive losses at the Duma elections. The pressure on the street grows. Thousands of citizens demonstrated on Monday night against election fraud. It is the largest protest for years.
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The non-parliamentarian opposition in Russia is considered to be small and fragmented. At regularly scheduled protests only a small group of the same participants take part. The most active part of the group is taken into custody by the police, the others are being disbursed.
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New dimension of protest
The event on Monday evening in the center of Moscow had a different dimension. Instead of the expected 300 to 500 participants, there were around 2000 people present, according to the police. Eye witnesses even talk of up to 8000 participants who demonstrated against the massive fraud at the Duma elections. The police had cordoned off the venue at the metro station but stayed initially passive as the event had been approved. They were equipped with whistles - reminiscent of the scene when Vladimir Putin was booed by the audience in the boxing ring - especially young people turned up despite the rain.
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Opposition alliance calls for protests
A broad spectrum of political and social movements (political parties that did not qualify for the Duma elections) had called for action. Speakers for the protesters included the blogger Alexei Navalny, the opposition politicians Boris Nemzov and Vladimir Ryzhkov and also Yevgenia Chirikova, who made a name as an activist during the protests against the deforestation of the Khimki Forest.
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"Putin belongs into jail", "Russia without Putin" and "Russia will be free" chanted the crowd who, however, remained peaceful. Many of the participants said that it was their first time attending a protest action.
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Police stop march on the Electoral Commission
"It is the largest demonstration in the last ten years", explained Nemzov during the event which initially went ahead without any major incident. Only when Ilya Jashin asked the crowed to walk to the election commission building new Lubyanka to articulate their protest it became turbulent.
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According to police records, around 1000 people followed his call. In the following tussle several police barriers were broken that's when security forces stepped in. Police report show that approximately 300 people were arrested, the remaining crowd was dispersed with whistle blowing.
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Opposition leader detained
Among those detained are also Yashin and Navalny. The police accuse them of resisting the state. Despite police request to leave, over 100 opposition activists stayed overnight in front of the police station "Kitai Gorod" where Jashin and Navalny had been taken to. Their lawyers were denied access.
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Yahin and Navalny will be brought in front of the judge on Tuesday. In the morning they were taken somewhere, according to the lawyers it is not clear where.
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Kremlin secures controversial majority of votes
The Kremlin party "United Russia" (UR) is able to claim a slim majority in the parliament despite enormous losses in the Duma elections. The party is expected to get 238 of the 450 seats. OSCE observers criticized at the election "frequent procedural errors and cases of manipulation".
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UR interestingly received the best results in the federal district of North Caucasus, with 78 percent. Especially in the republics of Chechnya (99.5%) and Dagestan (91%) the quota for UR was high. However, there were no OSCE election observers present.
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