Dissenters March - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

The Dissenters' March was a series of political opposition protests that took place on 16 December 2006, in Moscow

Moscow

Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, on 3 March 2007, in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

, on 24 March 2007, in Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...

, on 14 April 2007, for the second time in Moscow

Moscow

and on 15 April 2007, again in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

, on 18 May in Samara

Samara, Russia

Samara , is the sixth largest city in Russia. It is situated in the southeastern part of European Russia at the confluence of the Volga and Samara Rivers. Samara is the administrative center of Samara Oblast. Population: . The metropolitan area of Samara-Tolyatti-Syzran within Samara Oblast...

and on 19 May in Chelyabinsk

Chelyabinsk

Chelyabinsk is a city and the administrative center of Chelyabinsk Oblast, Russia, located in the northwestern side of the oblast, south of Yekaterinburg, just to the east of the Ural Mountains, on the Miass River. Population: -History:...

. Some of them were featured in various media outlets.

It was preceded by opposition rallies in Russian cities in December 2005 which involved fewer people.

Most of the protests were unsanctioned. Usually the authorities of the cities where the march was expected to take place have proposed protesters to meet at some more peripheral place and forbidden processions. However, according to Russian legislation, organizers of a march should merely inform the authorities of the upcoming event and do not need a sanction, while the authorities have no right to prohibit a march in the specific places where it has been planned by the opposition, and demonstrators have usually defied the ban (apart from the rally in Saint Petersburg on 15 April 2007).

Since 2009, instead of dissenters marches, Russian opposition has held Strategy-31

Strategy-31

Strategy-31 is a series of civic protests in support of the right to peaceful assembly in Russia guaranteed by Article 31 of the Russian Constitution...

rallies, though some of them have been accompanied by attempts of processions.

Moscow, 16 December 2006

The first march of the series took place in Moscow

Moscow

on 16 December 2006.

Saint Petersburg, 3 March 2007

The first march in Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg

Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

took place on Saturday, 3 March 2007.

Political context and organization

Taking place a year before the presidential election

Russian presidential election, 2008

The Russian Presidential election of 2008, held on March 2, 2008 resulted in the election of Dmitry Medvedev as the third President of Russia. Medvedev, whose candidacy was supported by incumbent president Vladimir Putin and five political parties , received 71% of the vote, and defeated...

scheduled on 2 March 2008, the St. Petersburg protest also came ahead of the local elections to the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly to be held on 11 March 2007. While leaders of Communist party

Communist Party of the Russian Federation

The Communist Party of the Russian Federation is a Russian political party. It is the second major political party in the Russian Federation.-History:...

and democratic Union of Right Forces

Union of Right Forces

The Union of Right Forces, or SPS , was a Russian democratic opposition party associated with free market reforms, privatization, and the legacy of the 'Young Reformers' of the 1990s: Anatoly Chubais, Boris Nemtsov, and Yegor Gaidar. Nikita Belykh was the last party's leader...

which were going to contest for votes didn't take part in the march (as well as other major parties), the action was joined by St. Petersburg department of social-liberal party Yabloko

Yabloko

The Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" The Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" The Russian United Democratic Party "Yabloko" (Russian: Росси́йская объединённая демократи́ческая па́ртия «Я́блоко» Rossiyskaya obyedinyonnaya demokraticheskaya partiya "Yabloko"; is a Russian social...

which had been eliminated from the upcoming local legislative election for technical reasons earlier in February.

The unsanctioned protest rally was organized by The Other Russia, a broad umbrella group that includes both left and right-wing opposition leaders, including National Bolshevik Party with its leader Eduard Limonov

Eduard Limonov

Eduard Limonov is Russian writer and political dissident, and is the founder and leader of radical National Bolshevik Party. An opponent of Vladimir Putin, Limonov is one of leaders of Other Russia political bloc.-Early life:...

, far-left Vanguard of Red Youth

Vanguard of Red Youth

Vanguard of Red Youth ), is a radical Russian communist youth group. Its website describes it as an "independent youth organization, entering the all-Russian public political motion." Its "territory of action" is Russia, which it insists is still the heart and soul of "the republic of the USSR."...

, and far-left Workers' Party of Viktor Anpilov

Viktor Anpilov

Viktor Anpilov is a Russian Communist politician and trade unionist. Anpilov joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union in 1972. He worked as a Soviet journalist in Latin America. In 1990, Anpilov was nominated as candidate for the Congress of People's Deputies and Moscow city Soviet...

, as well as right-wing liberal people such as former world chess champion

World Chess Championship

The World Chess Championship is played to determine the World Champion in the board game chess. Men and women of any age are eligible to contest this title....

and United Civil Front

United Civil Front

United Civil Front is a social movement in Russia founded and led by chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov. It is part of The Other Russia, an opposition coalition active in Moscow...

leader Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov

Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....

and former Prime Minister of Russia

Prime Minister of Russia

The Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation The use of the term "Prime Minister" is strictly informal and is not allowed for by the Russian Constitution and other laws....

and People Democratic Union leader Mikhail Kasyanov

Mikhail Kasyanov

Mikhail Mikhailovich Kasyanov - was the Prime Minister of Russia from May 2000 to February 2004.He is the leader of the People's Democratic Union and an ex-member of the opposition coalition "The Other Russia".-Political career:...

. Sergey Gulyayev, Mikhail Amosov and Natalya Yevdokimova, Democratic faction deputies in the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly who represented Yabloko, and Maxim Reznik, leader of the party in Saint Petersburg, took part in the protest, as well as other Saint Petersburg citizens of different ages and political persuasions. Gulyayev was elected chairman of the organizing committee.

Preventive countermeasures

Governor Valentina Matviyenko

Valentina Matviyenko

Valentina Ivanovna Matviyenko , born 7 April 1949 in the Ukrainian SSR), is currently the highest-ranking female politician in Russia, the former governor of Saint Petersburg and the current Chairman of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation...

, appearing on Channel 5 news bulletins on Friday evening (2 March), warning people not to join people she called extremists. Warnings were broadcast on public address systems in the underground

Saint Petersburg Metro

The Saint Petersburg Metro is the underground railway system in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad Oblast, Russia. It has been open since November 15, 1955.Formerly known as the V.I...

advising people to stay away from the rally.

The police raided apartments of Saint Petersburg opposition activists early on Saturday morning and quite a few were pulled out of trains heading for St. Petersburg from Petrozavodsk

Petrozavodsk

Petrozavodsk is the capital city of the Republic of Karelia, Russia. It stretches along the western shore of the Lake Onega for some . The city is served by Petrozavodsk Airport. Municipally, it is incorporated as Petrozavodsky Urban Okrug . Population:...

and Murmansk

Murmansk

Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...

Number of demonstrators

The rally became one of the biggest demonstrations of the opposition in recent years.

Police stated that 800 participated in the march. According to correspondent of Vedomosti

Vedomosti

Vedomosti is a Russian language business daily. It is a joint venture between Dow Jones, the Financial Times and Sanoma, publishers of The Moscow Times....

newspaper, there were more than 2,000 participants. Interfax news agency estimated the number of participant between 2,000 and 3,000. Saint Petersburg internet newspaper Fontanka.ru wrote that from 2,000 to 5,000 took part in the March. Newsru

Newsru

NEWSru is one of the Russian online news sites. Originally it functioned as NTV's website under the address ntv.ru. The site remains part of Vladimir Gusinsky's media holding that includes a satellite TV broadcast company RTVi....

reported that the rally collected about 4,000 to 6,000 demonstrators. According to claims by Garry Kasparov the total number was around 6,000 protestors. On the article written at Daily Journal (ej.ru), Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov

Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....

stated that he believes around 7,000 individuals were taking part in the March, and on the Nevsky Prospekt

Nevsky Prospekt

Nevsky Avenue |Prospekt]]) is the main street in the city of St. Petersburg, Russia. Planned by Peter the Great as beginning of the road to Novgorod and Moscow, the avenue runs from the Admiralty to the Moscow Railway Station and, after making a turn at Vosstaniya Square, to the Alexander...

, the main avenue of St Petersburg, around 4,500 marched. Liberal opposition news website Grani.ru alleged that around 8,000-10,000 were participating in the March. The largest number was claimed by the leader of NDSM Yulia Malysheva, who claimed there were 15,000 participants.

Russian police dispersed the protesters, detaining 113 people. According to police, all of the detainees were released shortly except for two bodyguards of Eduard Limonov

Eduard Limonov

, who got 15 days of arrest for "organization of mass disorders". Most of detainees were convicted to money penalties.

Course of events

Despite the fact that the organizers had been denied permission for the rally by the city authorities, several thousands of people defied the ban, facing about 3,000 officers of police and OMON

OMON

OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...

summoned up from St. Petersburg, Republic of Karelia

Republic of Karelia

The Republic of Karelia is a federal subject of Russia .-Geography:The republic is located in the northwestern part of Russia, taking intervening position between the basins of White and Baltic seas...

, Pskov

Pskov

Pskov is an ancient city and the administrative center of Pskov Oblast, Russia, located in the northwest of Russia about east from the Estonian border, on the Velikaya River. Population: -Early history:...

and Vladimir

Vladimir

Vladimir is a city and the administrative center of Vladimir Oblast, Russia, located on the Klyazma River, to the east of Moscow along the M7 motorway. Population:...

, broke through several OMON

OMON

OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...

cordons and marched from the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall down the city's main avenue, Nevsky Prospekt

Nevsky Prospekt

, as far as Gostiny Dvor and the building of the pre-1917 Saint Petersburg City Duma

Saint Petersburg City Duma

Saint Petersburg City Duma was established in 1785 in the course of Catherine the Great's municipal reform. Emperor Paul replaced it by the so-called Ratusha, but his son, Alexander I, had the Duma restored four years later. The next emperor, Nicholas I, expanded the institution from six to twelve...

. Dozens of people were beaten by OMON

OMON

OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...

with truncheon

Baton (law enforcement)

A truncheon or baton is essentially a club of less than arm's length made of wood, plastic, or metal...

s. Initially the protesters were going to march from Vosstaniya Square

Vosstaniya Square

Vosstaniya Square is a major square in the Central Business District of Saint Petersburg, Russia. The square lies at the crossing of Nevsky Prospekt, Ligovsky Prospekt, Vosstaniya Street and Goncharnaya Street, in front of the Moskovsky Rail Terminal, which is the northern terminus of the line...

to Smolny

Smolny

The Smolny Institute is a Palladian edifice in St Petersburg that has played a major part in the history of Russia.The building was commissioned from Giacomo Quarenghi by the Society for Education of Noble Maidens and constructed in 1806-08 to house the Smolny Institute for Noble Maidens,...

, where the Saint Petersburg City Administration

Saint Petersburg City Administration

Saint Petersburg City Administration is the superior executive body of Saint Petersburg , Russian Federation. It is located in a historic building, Smolny....

resides, but changed their plans on the fly, in direct violation of the law. Automobile traffic was blocked by the police cordons and protesters.

In a speech addressed to the marchers, Kasparov told the crowd, "This is our first real victory. I congratulate you on overcoming your fear. We will have victory when we get our Russia back. We have 364 days before the election in 2008

Russian presidential election, 2008

."

After his speech, Kasparov declared the March to be over and stated that everyone should leave. At the same time, Michail Kasyanov left the March on a blue minibus.

People shouted "Russia without Putin!", "Shame!", "Give the elections back!", "This is our city!" and "Out with the corrupt authorities!" as well as slogans against the Gazprom City skyscraper construction project. They called for the dismissal of Governor Matviyenko, a close Putin ally, accusing her of corruption and interference with small businesses in favor of large state-owned corporations.

Tatyana Voltskaya, a journalist working for Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...

who witnessed the protest, said, "When I came I saw a very tight police cordon. The police had left only two very narrow corridors for people. I would say that to be inside it was very unsafe because of a possible stampede

Stampede

A stampede is an act of mass impulse among herd animals or a crowd of people in which the herd collectively begins running with no clear direction or purpose....

. Police officers were speaking through megaphone

Megaphone

A megaphone, speaking-trumpet, bullhorn, blowhorn, or loud hailer is a portable, usually hand-held, cone-shaped horn used to amplify a person’s voice or other sounds towards a targeted direction. This is accomplished by channelling the sound through the megaphone, which also serves to match the...

s. They urged people to leave the square and not to disturb the public order. It was not possible to hear what they were saying because the crowd was shouting ‘Disgrace, disgrace!'"

Resolutions adopted by the March included: demands on federal policy (to allow opposition to participate in elections, reforms of judiciary, trials against corruptioners, restoration of direct gubernatorial elections abolished on Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin served as the second President of the Russian Federation and is the current Prime Minister of Russia, as well as chairman of United Russia and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Union of Russia and Belarus. He became acting President on 31 December 1999, when...

's initiative in 2005); protests against actions of St. Petersburg Governor (mayor) Valentina Matviyenko

Valentina Matviyenko

and demands to dismiss her; and a block of social claims (such as usage of the stabilization fund

Stabilization Fund of the Russian Federation

The Stabilization fund of the Russian Federation wasestablished by resolution of the Government of Russia on January 1, 2004, as a part of the federal budget to balance the...

http://www1.minfin.ru/stabfond_eng/stabfond_eng.htm to enhance pensions, or demonopolizing the market of public transportation).

Sergey Gulyayev, a member of the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly, said, "The government is afraid of the slightest disturbance. The government is fragile and scared, and will collapse with one push." Interior Ministry

Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs

The Ministerstvo Vnutrennikh Del is the interior ministry of Russia. Its predecessor was founded in 1802 by Alexander I in Imperial Russia...

police moved through the protesters, taking Gulyayev's bullhorn, throwing it against a nearby building, and putting Gulyayev into a squad car in a headlock. As they did so protesters chanted, "Shame! Shame!"

Official reaction and media coverage

Valentina Matviyenko called the protesters "guest stars from Moscow" and "youths of extremist persuasion", accusing them of stirring turmoil ahead of the legislative elections, venting their discontent with the city's perceived dynamic development, and receiving financial support from dubious sources, such as imprisoned Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Mikhail Khodorkovsky

Mikhail Borisovich Khodorkovsky is a Russian prisoner, considered by some - such as Amnesty International - to have been imprisoned for political reasons, jailed until 2016 and a former Russian oligarch and businessman...

and emigrated Boris Berezovsky.

Since 27 February the official website of Dissenters' March has been DDoS-attack

Denial-of-service attack

A denial-of-service attack or distributed denial-of-service attack is an attempt to make a computer resource unavailable to its intended users...

ed several times.

According to Garry Kasparov, the major informational resource of the March was the radio station "Echo of St. Petersburg", which informed people in a timely manner on the progress of the march.

The march was covered on BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, CNN

CNN

Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

and EuroNews

EuroNews

Euronews is an international multilingual news television channel.It covers world news from what it claims to be a 'European' perspective.Criticisms are that the perspective is in fact that of the European Commission - a major and growing funder of Euronews....

. On Russian television the event was most fully described on national channel Ren-TV

Ren-TV

REN TV is one of the largest private federal TV channels in Russia. Founded by Irena Lesnevskaya and her son, Dmitry Lesnevsky, who had been running REN TV as a production house for other national Russian television channels, it has broadcast since 1 January 1997. Its target audience is a young to...

. The pictures showed violent clashes of OMON

OMON

OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...

with protesters.

Gazprom Media

Gazprom Media

Gazprom-Media is the largest Russian media holding founded in 2000 as a subsidiary of Gazprom. In 2000 it acquired NTV, the only nationwide state-independent television in Russia of the time, as well as other media assets of Vladimir Gusinsky's Media Most group, which raised a major controversy...

-owned NTV

NTV Russia

NTV is a Russian television channel. As a subsidiary of Vladimir Gusinsky's company Media-Most, it was a pioneer in the post-Soviet independent television media, but was later taken over by state-owned Gazprom.- History :...

gave only a brief account of the event (Photo), and in a special report about strategies of contention of the major parties prior to elections mentioned the March as a minor political event (Video).

Channel One

Channel One (Russia)

Channel One is the first television channel to broadcast in the Soviet Union. The channel was renamed Ostankino Channel 1 in 1991, after the Soviet Union broke up and the Russian SFSR became the Russian Federation. According to a recent government publication, the Russian government controls 51%...

described the rally as "a clash with police, provoked by hooligans".

State-owned Russia

Russia TV Channel

Rossiya 1 is a state-owned Russian television channel founded in 1991. It belongs to the All-Russia State Television and Radio Company ....

channel reported on the March: "Authorities of St. Petersburg called an attempt to carry out unsanctioned action of protest in centre of the city a provocation. Radicals of all kinds — from fascists to leftists, calling themselves "uncompromising opposition", carried out the 'March of the Discontented' at Nevsky. The Governor of the "Northern Capital" Valentina Matviyenko has issued assurances that it was backed by the people who are against the political stability in the city before elections." "Valentina Matviyenko was outraged that organizers of the March called on the people to bring children and old men with them; many did so. Ranks of marching people completely blocked traffic at Ligovsky Prospect. Despite precautions and appeals to break up, the mass of extremist persuasion moved to Nevsky, provoking militia to use force."

Nizhny Novgorod, 24 March 2007

The protest in Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod

Nizhny Novgorod , colloquially shortened to Nizhny, is, with the population of 1,250,615, the fifth largest city in Russia, ranking after Moscow, St. Petersburg, Novosibirsk, and Yekaterinburg...

scheduled for 24 March was banned by the city authorities and effectively prevented by police, as many of its leaders and expected participants had been arrested in advance and cordons had sealed off the expected meeting place, Gorky Square. Many OMON

OMON

OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...

(riot police) troops arrived there from other regions of Russia. Although a group of protesters defying the ban managed to get through the barriers, they all have been detained. In all, 102 people were detained during the protest at the square or on their way there according to the official figures, 11 of them from Moscow, 6 from St. Petersburg and one from Latvia

Latvia

Latvia , officially the Republic of Latvia , is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by Estonia , to the south by Lithuania , to the east by the Russian Federation , to the southeast by Belarus and shares maritime borders to the west with Sweden...

Moscow

On Saturday, 14 April, dissenters marched in central Moscow

Moscow

.
Roughly 9,000 police and OMON

OMON

OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...

(riot police) forces were deployed in Moscow on Saturday according to the official figures, outnumbering the demonstrators by far. The troops arrived from Ryazan Oblast

Ryazan Oblast

Ryazan Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Ryazan, which is the oblast's largest city. Population: -Geography:...

, Kaluga Oblast

Kaluga Oblast

Kaluga Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Kaluga.-Geography:Kaluga Oblast is located in the central part of the East European Plain. The Smolensk Highland lays in the western and north-western part of the oblast, while the Central Russian Highland -...

, Voronezh Oblast

Voronezh Oblast

Voronezh Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . It was established on June 13, 1934.-Main rivers:*Don*Voronezh*Bityug*Khopyor-Economy:...

, Rostov Oblast

Rostov Oblast

Rostov Oblast is a federal subject of Russia , located in the Southern Federal District. Rostov Oblast has an area of and a population of making it the sixth most populous federal subject in Russia...

, Lipetsk Oblast

Lipetsk Oblast

Lipetsk Oblast is a federal subject of Russia which was formed on January 6, 1954. Its administrative center is the city of Lipetsk...

, Tver Oblast

Tver Oblast

Tver Oblast is a federal subject of Russia . Its administrative center is the city of Tver. From 1935 to 1990, it was named Kalinin Oblast after Mikhail Kalinin. Population: Tver Oblast is an area of lakes, such as Seliger and Brosno...

, North Ossetia, Udmurtia

Udmurtia

The Udmurt Republic , or Udmurtia is a federal subject of Russia . Its capital is the city of Izhevsk. Population: -History:...

, Mordovia

Mordovia

The Republic of Mordovia , also known as Mordvinia, is a federal subject of Russia . Its capital is the city of Saransk. Population: -Geography:The republic is located in the eastern part of the East European Plain of Russia...

, Bashkiria, and Mariy-El.
Former Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Kasyanov

Mikhail Kasyanov

, libertarian economist and former economic policy adviser to President Vladimir Putin Andrey Illarionov

Andrey Illarionov

Andrey Nikolayevich Illarionov is a Russian libertarian economist and former economic policy advisor to the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin...

, National Bolshevik Party leader Eduard Limonov

Eduard Limonov

, former world chess champion and United Civil Front

United Civil Front

United Civil Front is a social movement in Russia founded and led by chess grandmaster Garry Kasparov. It is part of The Other Russia, an opposition coalition active in Moscow...

leader Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov

Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....

, screenwriter Viktor Shenderovich, opposition State Duma

State Duma

The State Duma , common abbreviation: Госду́ма ) in the Russian Federation is the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia , the upper house being the Federation Council of Russia. The Duma headquarters is located in central Moscow, a few steps from Manege Square. Its members are referred to...

deputy Vladimir Ryzhkov

Vladimir Ryzhkov

Vladimir Aleksandrovich Ryzhkov is a Russian Professor of the Higher School of Economics , Russian independent politician, Russian State Duma member ....

, Union of Right Forces

Union of Right Forces

leader Nikita Belykh

Nikita Belykh

Nikita Yurevich Belykh is a Russian politician and former leader of the Union of Right Forces party. He was a member of the Legislative Assembly of Perm Krai , and now is confirmed as governor of Kirov Oblast....

, as well as Georgy Satarov

Georgy Satarov

Georgy Alexandrovich Satarov , is a Russian mathematician, politician, political scientist and a former aide to Russia President Boris Yeltsin...

, Irina Hakamada

Irina Hakamada

Irina Mutsuovna Khakamada is a Russian politician who ran in the Russian presidential election, 2004. She is a member of The Other Russia coalition.-Biography:...

and many others took part in the rally.

Demonstrators were going to start the march at Pushkin Square

Pushkin Square

Pushkinskaya Square or Pushkin Square in Moscow, historically known as Strastnaya Square and renamed for Alexander Pushkin in 1937, is located at the junction of the Boulevard Ring and Tverskaya Street, 2 km northwest of the Kremlin...

, a prominent public space, but were denied permission by the authorities as Molodaya Gvardiya, youth wing of United Russia

United Russia

United Russia is a centrist political party in Russia and the largest party in the country, currently holding 315 of the 450 seats in the State Duma. The party was founded in December 2001, through a merger of the Unity and Fatherland-All Russia parties...

, had been given a permission to meet there for the same time. The authorities suggested the march organizers to hold their rally at Turgenev Square, a more peripheral spot. The pro-Kremlin youth group, which had obtained the permit in order to deny the central square to the protesters, did not hold a rally there, but the square was cordoned off by police on the night before the protest.

Defying the ban, participants of the anti-government protest, however, attempted to march about 2 km along the Boulevard Ring

Boulevard Ring

The Boulevard Ring is Moscow's second centremost ring road . Boulevards form a semicircular chain along the western, northern and eastern sides of the historical White City of Moscow; in the south the incomplete ring is terminated by the embankments of Moskva River...

from Pushkin Square to Turgenev Square. Police dispersed about a half of them on their way there and detained some people, including Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov

Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....

, Yabloko

Yabloko

youth wing leader Ilya Yashin

Ilya Yashin

Ilya Yashin is one of the key leaders of the Russian political movement Solidarnost. He is also the leader of the Moscow branch of the People's Freedom Party, in which the Solidarnost participates....

, Yes! Youth Movement leader Maria Gaidar

Maria Gaidar

Maria Egorovna Gaidar is a Russian political activist and the founder of the Youth movement "DA!" . She is the daughter of former Russian Prime Minister, Yegor Gaidar. On July 23, 2009 she was confirmed as a deputy governor in Kirov Oblast.She was one of the leaders of The Other Russia...

, Vanguard of Red Youth

Vanguard of Red Youth

leader Sergei Udaltsov, People Democratic Youth Union leader Yuliya Malysheva and National Bolshevik Party leader Eduard Limonov

Eduard Limonov

. Kasparov yelled out of a police van to a Canadian television crew "Tell your leaders this is a police state!" Police attempted, but failed to detain Mikhail Kasyanov, surrounded with bodyguards. Protesters chanted: "We need another Russia!", "Russia without Putin!", "No to the police state!" , "Beasts! Fascists! Shame!" , "This is our city!" From about 1,000 to 2,500 demonstrators managed to get through several OMON

OMON

OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...

cordons and reach Turgenev Square, where Mikhail Kasyanov

Mikhail Kasyanov

gave a speech. Kasyanov claimed that the protesters will seek free and fair elections.

As the demonstration ended, the remaining participants headed for the nearby underground

Moscow Metro

The Moscow Metro is a rapid transit system serving Moscow and the neighbouring town of Krasnogorsk. Opened in 1935 with one line and 13 stations, it was the first underground railway system in the Soviet Union. As of 2011, the Moscow Metro has 182 stations and its route length is . The system is...

station, but riot police formed a gauntlet on their way. Scores of demonstrators was beaten by police with truncheons and detained, as well as Russian and foreign journalists covering the event and passersby. According to police, about 170 or 250 protesters were detained during the event.

Kasparov was fined 1,000 rubles (about $40) by a court late in the evening and released.

Andrey Illarionov

Andrey Illarionov

Andrey Nikolayevich Illarionov is a Russian libertarian economist and former economic policy advisor to the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin...

, former economic policy adviser to President Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin

and now a participant of the rally, claimed later on Saturday in the interview to Echo of Moscow

Echo of Moscow

Echo of Moscow is a Russian radio station based in Moscow, broadcasting in many Russian cities, in some of the former-Soviet republics , and via the Internet, which some observers describe as "the last bastion of free media in Russia"...

radio station that the authorities' treatment of the march had to be considered criminal offense against the article No 31 of the Russian Constitution

Russian constitution

Russian constitution* Constitution of Russia* Russian Constitution of 1906* Russian Constitution of 1918* Russian Constitution of 1978* Judiciary of Russia...

.

The Moscow authorities called the protest attempt at provocation, successfully contained by the police.

Saint Petersburg

The Sunday rally in Saint Petersburg was organized for the second time in the city by the local subdivision of the Other Russia organization, led by Sergey Gulyayev, and supported by the local branch of Yabloko

Yabloko

and its leader Maxim Reznik. This time the city authorities

Saint Petersburg City Administration

Saint Petersburg City Administration is the superior executive body of Saint Petersburg , Russian Federation. It is located in a historic building, Smolny....

sanctioned the rally to be held between the noon and 2 p. m., but nevertheless refused to permit protesters to march to the City Hall

Smolny

. President Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin

visited the city on the night before the event together with former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi

Silvio Berlusconi , also known as Il Cavaliere – from knighthood to the Order of Merit for Labour which he received in 1977 – is an Italian politician and businessman who served three terms as Prime Minister of Italy, from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. Berlusconi is also the...

and American film actor of Belgian origin Jean-Claude Van Damme

Jean-Claude Van Damme

Jean-Claude Camille François Van Varenberg , professionally known as Jean-Claude Van Damme, is a Belgian martial artist and actor, best known for his martial arts action films, the most successful of which include Bloodsport , Kickboxer , Double Impact , Universal Soldier , Hard Target , Timecop ,...

to watch a martial arts contest, but has not commented on the protest. Berlusconi noted that the number of anti-Putin protesters had been exaggerated by the media.

The protest in Saint Petersburg started at noon on Sunday, 15 April, at Pionerskaya Square, under heavy police surveillance, including a hovering helicopter and scores of OMON

OMON

OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...

(riot police), both local and summoned from Pskov

Pskov

, Novgorod, Tver

Tver

Tver is a city and the administrative center of Tver Oblast, Russia. Population: 403,726 ; 408,903 ;...

and Arkhangelsk

Arkhangelsk

Arkhangelsk , formerly known as Archangel in English, is a city and the administrative center of Arkhangelsk Oblast, Russia. It lies on both banks of the Northern Dvina River near its exit into the White Sea in the north of European Russia. The city spreads for over along the banks of the river...

, cordoning off the area. Neighboring quarters were also closed to traffic and pedestrians. There were at least 1,500 police according to the march organizers. Only those protesters who had come by 12 p. m. were allowed to enter the square, leaving a number of others outside the barriers. The total number of demonstrators gathered was estimated as over 3,000 by the organizers and about 500 according to the police. Earlier, on Friday and Saturday, police raided Saint Petersburg Yabloko headquarters to confiscate publicity material about the march, demanded information about those involved in the printing and distribution of it and detained several distributors. There were some speculations that Garry Kasparov

Garry Kasparov

Garry Kimovich Kasparov is a Russian chess grandmaster, a former World Chess Champion, writer, political activist, and one of the greatest chess players of all time....

failed to take part in the Saint Petersburg event because he had been released from police office too late in the aftermath of the Saturday rally in Moscow.

During the meeting protesters chanted slogans targeting policies of President Vladimir Putin and Governor Valentina Matviyenko

Valentina Matviyenko

, demanding an end to corruption and police violence against dissenters, greater accountability of the authorities, as well as free mass media and elections, and claiming that they were not afraid. As in two hours protesters had begun to disperse, heading toward the nearby Pushkinskaya metro station, OMON

OMON

OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...

started beating them as well as some passersby with truncheons. Some of the victims were later hospitalized. Police detained about 120 participants (according to official figures) including Eduard Limonov, Maxim Reznik and Sergey Gulyayev himself, with his left arm broken in the clash.

Reaction

In the Sunday evening Russia TV Channel

Russia TV Channel

Rossiya 1 is a state-owned Russian television channel founded in 1991. It belongs to the All-Russia State Television and Radio Company ....

broadcast shortened and recut version of a French documentary alleging that the recent revolutions in Eastern Europe (Serbia, Georgia and Ukraine) had been masterminded by the U.S. government, which had been heavily advertised and has been perceived by many as an effort to counter effects of the Saturday and Sunday protests. The protests themselves enjoyed little attention from the state-owned television channels.

In the interview to Russia Today TV

Russia Today TV

RT, previously known as Russia Today, is a global multilingual television news network based in the Russian Federation run by the state-owned state-run RIA Novosti....

Channel aired on 17 April President Vladimir Putin

Vladimir Putin

’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov

Dmitry Peskov

Dmitry Sergeyevich Peskov is the current Press Attaché for the Chairman of the Government of the Russian Federation, Vladimir Putin.Peskov was born in Moscow, and is fluent in Turkish....

called Dissenters Marches of the weekend extremely insignificant.
On 16 April, European Commission

European Commission

The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....

spokeswoman Christiane Hohmann expressed concern over the police response and said that EU

European Union

The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...

foreign ministers would raise the issue at talks with Russia in Luxembourg

Luxembourg

Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...

next week. U.S. White House spokeswoman Dana Perino

Dana Perino

Dana Maria Perino is an American political commentator for Fox News. She served as the White House Press Secretary for President George W. Bush from September 14, 2007 to January 20, 2009...

also voiced concern over "an emerging pattern of use of excessive force" by the authorities with special reference to police's treatment of journalists.

However, opinions varied. On 21 April, pro-Kremlin political analyst Gleb Pavlovsky

Gleb Pavlovsky

Gleb Olegovich Pavlovsky is a Russian national, political scientist . He was an adviser of the Presidential Administration of Russia until April 2011. During the Soviet times he was prosecuted as a dissident....

claimed in his weekly program Real Politics aired on NTV

NTV Russia

that the OMON

OMON

OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...

troops that had dispersed the protesters last week were to be considered heroes.

Voronezh 29 May

A smaller march was held in Voronezh

Voronezh

Voronezh is a city in southwestern Russia, the administrative center of Voronezh Oblast. It is located on both sides of the Voronezh River, away from where it flows into the Don. It is an operating center of the Southeastern Railway , as well as the center of the Don Highway...

on 29 May 2007

According to Garry Kasparov the authorities took maximum efforts to break the march and fulfilled their goals.
The destination of the March was planned to be on Lenina Square in city center, but at the last hours city authorities transferred the meeting to Admiralteiskaya Square. Around 40 participants started movement from the city center. In 18:30 OMON

OMON

OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...

has displaced the participants from the square and cleaned it.

New Marches

12 June Murmansk
Murmansk
Murmansk is a city and the administrative center of Murmansk Oblast, Russia. It serves as a seaport and is located in the extreme northwest part of Russia, on the Kola Bay, from the Barents Sea on the northern shore of the Kola Peninsula, not far from Russia's borders with Norway and Finland...
9 June: Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg is a city and a federal subject of Russia located on the Neva River at the head of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea...

(3rd)
11 June: Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

(3rd)
30 June: Ryazan
Ryazan
Ryazan is a city and the administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Oka River southeast of Moscow. Population: The strategic bomber base Dyagilevo is just west of the city, and the air base of Alexandrovo is to the southeast as is the Ryazan Turlatovo Airport...
7 October: Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

(4th)
24 November: Saint Petersburg and Moscow (5th)
2007 Russian protests
Protests in Russia started on November 24th, 2007 in Saint Petersburg and Moscow.Police broke up anti-Putin demonstrations in Moscow, detaining former world chess champion Garry Kasparov, who has become an outspoken critic of the government...

, Ryazan
Ryazan
Ryazan is a city and the administrative center of Ryazan Oblast, Russia. It is located on the Oka River southeast of Moscow. Population: The strategic bomber base Dyagilevo is just west of the city, and the air base of Alexandrovo is to the southeast as is the Ryazan Turlatovo Airport...

, Kaluga
Kaluga
Kaluga is a city and the administrative center of Kaluga Oblast, Russia, located on the Oka River southwest of Moscow. Population: It is served by Grabtsevo Airport.-History:...

, Nizhniy Novgorod
25 November: Saint-Petersburg (4th), Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl
Yaroslavl is a city and the administrative center of Yaroslavl Oblast, Russia, located northeast of Moscow. The historical part of the city, a World Heritage Site, is located at the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl Rivers. It is one of the Golden Ring cities, a group of historic cities...

, Vladimir

Marches 2008

3 March: Protest rallies after presidential elections in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, Saint-Petersburg and more than 20 big cities
14 December: Marches in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...

, Saint-Petersburg; protest rallies in Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad
Kaliningrad is a seaport and the administrative center of Kaliningrad Oblast, the Russian exclave between Poland and Lithuania on the Baltic Sea...

, Vladivostok
Vladivostok
The city is located in the southern extremity of Muravyov-Amursky Peninsula, which is about 30 km long and approximately 12 km wide.The highest point is Mount Kholodilnik, the height of which is 257 m...

External links

Dissenters March
Dissenters March - official community in LJ
Russian Protests: The Big Guessing Game by Mark Ames
Mark Ames
Mark Ames is a writer known for his work as a Moscow-based expatriate American journalist and editor. He is the founding editor of the satirical biweekly the eXile in Moscow, to which he regularly contributed before he returned to America...

, The Nation
The Nation
The Nation is the oldest continuously published weekly magazine in the United States. The periodical, devoted to politics and culture, is self-described as "the flagship of the left." Founded on July 6, 1865, It is published by The Nation Company, L.P., at 33 Irving Place, New York City.The Nation...

, 12 June 2007
Police Clash With Anti-Kremlin Protesters, Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe
Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty is a broadcaster funded by the U.S. Congress that provides news, information, and analysis to countries in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Middle East "where the free flow of information is either banned by government authorities or not fully developed"...

/Radio Liberty, 3 March 2007.
Dozens Held in Russia Opposition Rally by Dmitry Lovetsky, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

, 3 March 2007.
Police and Protesters Clash in St. Petersburg by Andrew E. Kramer, The New York Times
The New York Times
The New York Times is an American daily newspaper founded and continuously published in New York City since 1851. The New York Times has won 106 Pulitzer Prizes, the most of any news organization...

, 4 March 2004.
Independent discussion of Matviyenko's rule (in Russian)
Die-hard Kremlin opponents take protest to streets, Reuters
Reuters
Reuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...

, 2 March 2007.
Anti-Kremlin protesters beaten by police, CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...

, 3 March 2007.
Russian Police Quash Opposition Protest by Dmitry Lovetsky, The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, 3 March 2007.
Those Who Disagree Marched in St. Petersburg by Andrey Kozenko and Mikhail Shevchuk, Kommersant
Kommersant
Kommersant is a commerce-oriented newspaper published in Russia. , the circulation was 131,000.- History :The newspaper was initially published in 1909, and it was closed down following the Bolshevik seizure of power and the introduction of censorship in 1917.In 1989, with the onset of press...

, 5 March 2007.
2000 Oppositioners March in St Petersburg to Protest Putin Rule, Moscow News
Moscow News
The Moscow News, which began publication in 1930, is Russia’s oldest English-language publication newspaper. Many of its feature articles used to be translated from the now defunct Russian Moskovskiye Novosti.-History:...

, 4 March 2007.
Russian Police Beat Democracy Activists, The Washington Post
The Washington Post
The Washington Post is Washington, D.C.'s largest newspaper and its oldest still-existing paper, founded in 1877. Located in the capital of the United States, The Post has a particular emphasis on national politics. D.C., Maryland, and Virginia editions are printed for daily circulation...

, 4 March 2007.
Russians Protest Putin's Rule by Yuri Zarakhovich, Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...

, 4 March 2007.
Thousands Take to City Streets for Protest by Galina Stolyarova, The St. Petersburg Times
St. Petersburg Times (Russia)
The St. Petersburg Times is a weekly, English-language newspaper based in St. Petersburg, Russia. It serves the expatriate community, tourists, and Russians interested in an international perspective on local and world affairs...

, 6 March 2007.
Opposition Alliance Brings Protests to City by Galina Stolyarova, The St. Petersburg Times
St. Petersburg Times (Russia)
The St. Petersburg Times is a weekly, English-language newspaper based in St. Petersburg, Russia. It serves the expatriate community, tourists, and Russians interested in an international perspective on local and world affairs...

, 2 February 2007.
Liberal March Violently Dispersed, The Moscow Times
The Moscow Times
The Moscow Times is an English-language daily newspaper published in Moscow, Russia since 1992. The circulation in 2008 stood at 35,000 copies and the newspaper is typically given out for free at places English-language "expats" attend, including hotels, cafés and restaurants, as well as by...

, 5 March 2007.
Biography of Sergey Vladimirovich Gulyaev (Russian)
Russians take to the streets, show what might have once been called 'American spirit' by Douglas Birch, Associated Press
Associated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...

Photo shows how Sergey Gulayev was arrested
http://www.nazlobu.ru/publications/article1766.htmCivil war will start when they send here OMON
OMON
OMOH is a generic name for the system of special units of militsiya within the Russian and earlier the Soviet MVD...

of Ramzan Kadyrov
Ramzan Kadyrov
Ramzan Akhmadovich Kadyrov is the President of Chechnya and a former Chechen rebel.Ramzan is a son of former Chechen President Akhmad Kadyrov, assassinated in May 2004. In February 2007 Kadyrov replaced Alu Alkhanov as President, shortly after he had turned 30, which is the minimum age for the post...

], interview with Sergey Gulyaev (Russian)
Two views of the March in Moscow in 15 April (in Russian): March of asphyxiated by Panyushkin, Fish'es March by Novokshonov.

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.

Moscow, 16 December 2006

Saint Petersburg, 3 March 2007

Political context and organization

Preventive countermeasures

Number of demonstrators

Course of events

Official reaction and media coverage

Nizhny Novgorod, 24 March 2007

Moscow

Saint Petersburg

Reaction

Voronezh 29 May

New Marches

Marches 2008

See also

External links