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Russian protesters resist Putin’s repression on anniversary of brutal government terror
May 6, 2013
The Russian opposition is back at its main protesting spot in Moscow’s Bolotnaya (Swamp) Square, where an anti-Putin rally on May 6 last year resulted in massive protests against Putin’s violent political repression and in extreme police brutality as a result.
Thousands of opposition protesters are taking part in Monday’s sanctioned event called ‘For Freedom!’ Some 5,000 “law enforcers” have been deployed in the capital’s downtown to harass, terrorize, detain and abuse protesters for the second year in a row.
The main demand of the participants of the event organized by Russian opposition activists is the release of all political prisoners in the country. Those also include activists arrested as part of the ‘Bolotnaya case’ following last year’s rally on the square.
A day before Vladimir Putin’s inauguration as ‘president’, thousands took to streets to protest against election fraud, and to demand political reforms and a fresh vote. The sanctioned rally turned violent as police brutalized protesters at Putin’s command. Over 600 protesters were detained and over a dozen faced criminal charges ranging from inciting mass unrest to using violence against police. So far, two of the Bolotnaya Square protesters were sentenced to jail terms. The opposition maintains though that clashes were provoked by police.
On Sunday – as Orthodox believers celebrated Easter – the opposition held another sanctioned protest rally in the Russian capital. The event called ‘Freedom March’ was organized by the so-called Opposition Expert Council. Despite the initially-announced 10,000 participants, the gathering was joined by only around 400-500 participants and around a hundred journalists.
Thousands gather at unsanctioned opposition protest against Putin
December 15, 2012
Thousands of people challenged the administration of President Vladimir Putin in a defiant, unsanctioned gathering amid temperatures that hovered around minus 17 C.
“Respected citizens, this event is against Moscow laws, please walk to the Metro in order not to be detained,” repeated policemen — who numbered in the hundreds — over a megaphone throughout the meeting.
The crowd did not heed the call.
The gathering took place on Lubyanka Square, across the street from the headquarters of the FSB, the successor organization to the KGB. Protesters laid white flowers — the color of the opposition — on the Solovetsky stone, a memorial to victims of the Gulag, erected after the fall of the Soviet Union.
Police and special forces presence was significant, and officers numbered in the hundreds. Buses lined surrounding streets with buses waiting to be used for detained protesters, and a helicopter hovered low, apparently in an attempt to drown out noise from protesters.
Neither heavy security nor freezing cold temperatures deterred protesters, about 2,000 to 3,000, including families with children, and teenagers with iPads tweeting to pensioners. By attending an unsanctioned gathering, all of them were risking fines up to about $9,000, — or $18,000 for organizers — as the result of a law signed by Putin in June.
“I am not afraid to be here — Putin should be afraid of us,” said Lilia Sokolova of Moscow, who said that she had protested since the 1960s in the Soviet Union.
“This is the warmest place in Moscow!” quipped longtime opposition figure Boris Nemtsov, who was deputy prime minister under Boris Yeltsin.
Protesters did not only include liberal figures such as Nemtsov; nationalists, libertarians and gay rights activists also came to Lubyanka. (Communists, however, held their own sanctioned rally earlier Saturday in another part of Moscow where protests frequently occur.) The disparate groups share a deep desire to see Putin leave office after almost 13 years in power.
“I don’t want our freedom to depend on one person,” said Alexander Bolgov, a protester from Moscow. “That is stupidity.”
“The fish rots from the head,” said Valentina Ostak-Pengur of Moscow, who rejected that the so-called war on corruption waged by Putin — mostly involving sacking key officials such as Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov — was anything significant.
The most famous anti-corruption leader inside and outside of Russia — lawyer and blogger Alexei Navalny — came to the rally and was immediately swarmed by reporters, photographers and fans. He stood in a scrum and greeted the crowd before being detained by police. Russian investigators accused him and his brother, Oleg, of fraud and money laundering on Friday — charges that he rejects as politically motivated.
Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov was detained much more quickly, as was Ksenia Sobchak, who is the daughter of the late Anatoly Sobchak, the former St. Petersburg mayor and the mentor to both Putin and Dimitry Medvedev. All three of them were released later Saturday.
The rally was nowhere near the size of other protests that began after the Duma elections Dec. 4, 2011, tainted by widespread fraud. But unlike some of those protests, authorities did not approve the rally after negotiations broke down earlier this week.
“I am furious that our protest demonstration was not officially sanctioned despite the fact that we had applied for the permission to hold a rally in time. We have never been violent. So, they have no right to deny us permission,” said pensioner Tamara Kozhevnikova.
The police, after about an hour and a half of allowing the protesters to mill about, began to detain people, dragging them out the square. People chanted, “Shame! Shame!” and “Russia Without Putin!” But the protest only ended when officers, with their arms locked to form a chain, pushed the crowd out of the square and into the cold Moscow evening.
Arab Spring News Update - Whose news? Our news!
December 6, 2012
- Tunisia’s largest union called for continued protest & a general strike next week against the oppressive government, in an escalation of protests that have resulted in violent clashes in the capital this week.
- Hundreds of young Kuwaitis shouting & chanting protest slogans gathered outside the Gulf Arab state’s capital on Wednesday in the latest demonstration since a parliamentary election on Saturday.
- The Egyptian army sealed off the presidential palace with barbed wire and armored vehicles Thursday as protesters defied a deadline to vacate the area, pressing forward with demands that leader Mohammed Morsi rescind decrees giving himself near-absolute power and withdraw a disputed draft constitution.
- Diplomatic efforts to end Syria’s civil war continued today with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton joining Russia’s foreign minister and the U.N. peace envoy to Syria for three-way talks that suggested Washington and Moscow might finally unite behind a strategy as the Assad regime weakens.
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Moscow bans protest against political repressions ‘due to lack of political repressions’
November 21, 2012
The Moscow authorities have refused to grant permission for a rally against “political repressions” and “violations of human rights,” saying that state law does not recognize such a phenomenon in the country.
The application to hold the event was rejected by the authorities on the grounds that the “current law does not provide any measures used by the state for repression based on political motives,” the official refusal letter reads.
The letter further explained, “in accordance to the Constitution of the Russian Federation, the government guarantees equal rights and freedom of the individual.” The letter also said that the constitution rejects any forms of violation of human rights based on “social, racial, national, language or religious affiliation.” The constitution also guarantees judicial protection.
The petition was filed from an organizer’s address some 700 kilometers away from Moscow, in the capital city of the Mari El Republic.
The rally was to take place on Saturday near the Pushkinskaya Metro station to protest the prosecution of those who were detained in Moscow on May 6th this year.
The organizers refer to at least 18 people charged over the unrest at a protest on the eve of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration for a third presidential term. Only one person has faced trial so far, and was jailed for four and a half years after admitting to assaulting police.
The organizers planned to slowly reveal to the crowd a picture and a brief identity description of each of the eighteen arrested in the so-called “Bolotnaya” case.
The refusal letter confused the organizers, who posted on their Facebook page that they will brainstorm on how to arrange a meeting. Some of the suggestions already posted are to appeal the decision in court or to call a much larger rally and ask for a separate approval from the authorities.
The confusion also emerged as the organizers used the same text and template that they used in a July application – which was approved.
“The entire text of the notification, which we submitted to the municipality, was copied from the notice which was served on July 26. The guys held their successful event then,” the post read.
The Solidarity movement’s Sergei Davidis commented on the latest decision, saying that “you can only see the situation as absurd – both logically and from a legal point of view,” he wrote on an Ekho Moskvy blog.
Another post on the site showed full support for the authorities, stating, “they did the right thing. It’s time to stand up to these elements. Let the citizens live peacefully. Please get rid of these scoundrels and rascals on the streets.”
Pussy Riot member released on probation, sentence upheld for 2 others
October 10, 2012
After an appeal, a Moscow court overturned the original ruling and released on probation Ekaterina Samutsevich, the Pussy Riot activist who previously requested new counsel in light of the circumstances surrounding her arrest.
Samutsevich asked for a new lawyer on October 1, when the court was first convened to hear appeals on behalf the group. In a surprise move, Samutsevich claimed that she required new counsel, as the defense lawyers were only representing the group as a whole and special circumstances applied to her individual case. The appeals process was briefly delayed while Samutsevich sought new representation.
Irina Khrunova, Samutsvich’s new counsel, argued on appeal that Samutsevich had been removed from the church premises before she was able to engage in the ‘punk prayer.’
Khrunova emphasized the fact that Samutsevich never took part in the protest, and that she was only on the pulpit for 15 seconds. In the Orthodox tradition, only male priests may enter the pulpit, which is barred with a rail. Samutsevich barely had time to remove her guitar from its case, according to the additional statements, and was therefore unable to perform any of the offensive acts for which the defendants were found guilty.
In reading her statement, Samutsevich declared that while she did intend to perform a political act when entering the church on February 21, she had no intention of offending any religious beliefs.
Lawyers representing the plaintiffs expressed shock at the new developments, calling Samutsevich’s position “hypocritical” and an “attempt to delay verdict”. They argued, unsuccessfully, that Samutsevich’s confirmation of her intent to carry out the protest warranted punishment in and of itself, and that any other statement was contradictory.
Samutsevich was released shortly after the session. Though she appeared reluctant to comment, she told journalists that she was sad that the other two band members are still imprisoned, and that she will continue fighting for them. Her counsel, Khrunova, who used to represent jailed former Russian oil tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky in court, said that Samutsevich faces further challenges in her bid for freedom.
“Of course today’s decision of the Moscow City Court to exchange jail time for probation is a victory, but it is not the final victory, as she has still been found guilty of committing a crime,” Khrunova said. If Samutsevich agrees, Khrunova will take the case to the European Court of Human Rights.
Samutsevich will remain on probation for two years after she is released, and any deviation from her probation will likely result in her being arrested again. She is also required to regularly report to a police station.
The one on the far left (no pun intended) is Ekaterina Samutsevich. The fight to free Pussy Riot must continue until all three women are free.
Around 14,000 opposition party protesters poured into Sakharov Avenue in Moscow calling for the freedom of political prisoners, demanding political & education reforms & early presidential elections.
Widespread protests are expected to grow in Russia in the next month, especially concerning student debt and political prisoners.
Greenpeace activists climb Russian Actic oil rig to protest drilling
August 24, 2012
Greenpeace activists are literally “hanging out” on a Gazprom oil platform in the Arctic. Suspended by cables from the rig, they are protesting the Russian Arctic oil-drilling campaign and making some new friends in the process.
In the early hours of Friday morning, workers on the “Prirazlomnaya” oil-drilling platform in the Pechora Sea awoke to quite a surprise outside their windows. Six activists from Greenpeace at ambushed the rig 4am Moscow time (00:00 GMT) with motor boats and mountain climbing gear, and proceeded to suspend themselves above the platform.
“Today representatives of Greenpeace violated the 500-meter navigational safety zone around the sea platform ‘Prirazlomnaya’, and with the aid of mountain climbing gear, ‘hung’ themselves overboard. They were offered to come aboard the platform in order to engage in a constructive dialogue. However, they refused, saying they ‘will hang on the platform’. All work on the platform is continuing according to plan” Gazprom, operator of the platform, said in a statement.
The six activists are from Canada, Finland, Germany, and the US, and include the director of Greenpeace international, Kumi Naidoo.
The activists are protesting Russia’s drilling of the arctic shelf. Naidoo told the Associated Press in a phone interview from over the side of the rig that “We’re here peacefully and we will continue to draw the attention of Russian people and people around the world to what’s happening there. It’s bad for Russia, it’s bad for the planet.”
Greenpeace has repeatedly protested oil drilling around the world, but this marks the first time they have actually gone “overboard” about it. Naidoo and his fellow cable-swingers have managed to hang a banner on the side of the rig that reads “Don’t kill the Arctic.”
The Russian Arctic drilling program is unique both due to its remote location and the difficulties it faces. The platform is a one-of-a-kind vessel specially built to drill in the Arctic. Russian environmental activists have warned that a potential oil spill in the Arctic would pose never- before-seen challenges due to the ice and weather, creating a potential major disaster.
The platform opened last year, and is preparing to drill its first well.
Greenpeace Russia has said the climbers have enough supplies to hang there for several days. However, the supplies may not be necessary. Naidoo told the AP that the platform workers “have been very friendly, engaging in conversations with us, asking where we come from and offering us soup.”
A Russian Coast Guard helicopter has been dispatched to detain the activists. Gazprom has said it will issue a full statement on the incident later.
Police apprehend participants of a rally in support of Pussy Riot punk group outside Moscow’s Khamovnichesky courthouse. Three members were sentenced to two years in prison for “hooliganism.”
Masked female activists demonstrate in support of members of the feminist punk group Pussy Riot in front of the Russian Embassy in Berlin, Germany, Thursday Aug. 9, 2012.
Prosecutors in Russia on Tuesday called for three-year prison sentences for feminist punk rockers who gave an impromptu performance in Moscow’s main cathedral to call for an end to Vladimir Putin’s rule, in a case that has caused international outrage and split Russian society.
America: The Land of the “Free”
The new face of protest: Radical, young and connected
August 13, 2012
Political scientists believe that the protest movement in Russia will undergo change with the gradual withdrawal of liberals and the appearance of new parties on the political stage. Economic factors could also play a role.
According to Igor Bunin, president of the Center for Political Technologies, Russia may soon experience the rise of a radical new breed of protester.
“On the one hand, it seems to me that the protest movement will be more radical, more social, younger and more ready for direct actions,” Bunin predicted.
Meanwhile, many members of the opposition will disappear from the street scene because they aspire to real participation in the election process.
The political opposition is made up of a mixed basket of characters, including Alexey Navalny, a political blogger and one of the leading figures of the protest movement; Boris Nemtsov, a former Deputy Prime Minister and co-chairman of the Republican Party of People’s Freedom, also known as Parnas; Sergey Udaltsov, political activist and leader of the Left Front movement; and Vladimir Ryzkhov, also a co-chairman of PARNAS and the founder of the Republican party – one of the oldest parties in the country.
Bunin believes the general atmosphere of future street protests may become more radical in nature.
“The spirit of the protest movement is now different from December 2011; this spirit is more of a spirit of social conflict and is more radical,” he warned. “The leaders are different, the liberal movement has become weak, while younger people – those who were born in the late 1980s – are now taking part in protests.”
Coincidentally, Russia is waiting for the verdict to be passed down on the members of the feminist punk band Pussy Riot, who were arrested in February for delivering a protest song on the altar of Christ the Savior Cathedral in central Moscow.
The members of the band, all in their 20s, face up to seven years in prison for “hooliganism motivated by religious hatred.”
Another analyst, Igor Yurgens, head of the Institute for Modern development, says the number of protest participants may increase if the economic situation in the country deteriorates sharply, which, he says, seems unlikely at the moment.
“The number of protesters will depend on the economic situation,” Yurgens said. “In my view, we now don’t have a situation where a sharp deterioration is anticipated, for example, a fall in the prices of our traditional exports.”
Meanwhile, the number of opposition protesters may decrease considerably due to the creation of new parties, he said.
“New political parties have been formed, and they will help to erode the base of the protest movement,” he said.
Concerning the choice of slogans used by the protesters, Bunin said the messages are politically ineffective and obsolete.
“I don’t see any new slogans,” he said.
He also believes that the number of future protesters is not expected to increase.
“I think the number will stay the same, up to 50,000 people per protest,” Bunin said. “Udaltsov’s plans to bring many more people are not feasible.”
However, the movement will not disappear altogether anytime soon, he added.
Pussy Riot trial in Moscow erupts in chaos
August 5, 2012
The central Khamovniki court in Moscow erupted in chaos Friday when defense witnesses for Pussy Riot – the three feminist punk rockers charged in what many consider a political show trial – were denied the opportunity to testify on the musicians’ behalf.
After the prosecution read a statement from their absent last witness (the senior priest at Moscow’s Christ the Savior Cathedral), the Pussy Riot defense team demanded that Judge Marina Syrova order guards to let in their witnesses, who have been kept out of the building. Syrova repeatedly ignored motions for witness testimonies. A huge barking Rottweiler kept in the courtroom, and three men in balaclavas outside yelling “Free Pussy Riot,” escalated the mayhem.
Two of the girls’ college professors and a friend were allowed to testify on the defendants’ character. One noted that bandmember Maria Alyokhina, 24, is a poet who volunteers at a hospital run by a Christian Orthodox organization. Yekaterina Samutsevich, 29, was characterized as a good student. A witness who was supposed to testify on the character of Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, 22, could not be found.
The prosecution questioned four other witnesses this week, including two women who cleaned the Bogoyavlensky Cathedral, where part of the video was filmed; a real estate agent who saw the video online and believes Pussy Riot declared war on God, Christianity and the government; and Samutsevich’s father, who called the arrest and trial absurd.
Syrova pushed some sessions this week up to 12 hours, which is a sign that the authorities want to close the case as soon as possible, according to Polozov. The longer the trial lasts, the more controversy it appears to be gathering.
On Thursday the Russian law association published an open letter, signed by 35 prominent lawyers, declaring that the Pussy Riot cathedral performance was no crime. President Vladimir Putin told journalists in London Thursday that although he believes there is nothing good about what the women have done, they should not be punished too severely.
But such statements have had no effect on the trial, Polozov said. “This isn’t a trial – it’s total chaos,” he said.
People of Lebanon protest China & Russia’s support of massacres in Syria
July 24, 2012
Dozens of people protested at the Russian embassy in Beirut on Tuesday, denouncing Syrian regime massacres while calling on Russia and China to change their positions on the crisis.
The protesters — both Syrians and Lebanese — held up posters denouncing the violence in neighboring Syria, where rights activists say more than 19,000 people have been killed in a 16-month uprising.
“We also wrote the names some of the martyrs on sheets of paper, turning them into paper planes and launching them at the Russian embassy building,” a 30-year-old Lebanese activist told AFP on condition of anonymity.
“I think more and more people are becoming sympathetic to the Syrian people’s demands,” she said.
But when protests were held in Lebanon early on in the uprising, “pro-Syrian regime thugs came to beat up protesters who took to the streets, scaring many people off from demonstrating again.”
The protesters also held up signs denouncing Russia and China for providing “cover” for the regime of President Bashar al-Assad since the revolt began in March 2011, organizers said.
Earlier this month, Russia together with China vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Syria for the third time in nine months.
Ukraine protests erupt over Russian language law
July 4, 2012
Hundreds of protesters have clashed with riot police in central Kiev and Ukraine’s parliament speaker offered to resign amid uproar after a move to boost the status of the Russian language in the former Soviet republic.
Riot police on Wednesday fired tear gas and used batons to push back protesters, led by opposition members of parliament, who had massed in front of a building where President Viktor Yanukovich was due to hold a press briefing.
They urged Yanukovich - who had planned a celebratory statement to crown the successful co-hosting of the Euro 2012 soccer tournament - to veto the bill, which was rammed through parliament late on Tuesday by the majority Party of Regions.
Yanukovich subsequently cancelled the briefing and instead called an urgent meeting with Parliament Speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn and leaders of major factions.
Lytvyn himself tendered his resignation at the opening of the parliamentary session.
The chamber approved the language bill in a second and final reading on Tuesday minutes after a proposal by one of the pro-Yanukovich deputies, giving opponents little time to cast their vote and prompting scuffles both in parliament and on the streets.
Many protesters stayed out on the streets of central Kiev overnight. When parliament met again on Wednesday, Lytvyn said: “Colleagues, I ask you to consider my resignation and take a decision on it.”
The bill, which will not become law until first Lytvyn and then Yanukovich have signed it, would upgrade the status of Russian in the former Soviet republic, where the official state language is Ukrainian.
The raids that backfired: how the Russian police helped to swell a powerful and growing protest movement in Russia.
June 13, 2012
Apparently concerned about a new march against Putin, the authorities tried disrupting the lives of its organizers. The move, however, gave fresh momentum to the massive demonstration.
