Thousands March In Moscow Protest Defying Authorities

[Rogue Valley]

Thousands March In Moscow Protest Defying Authorities

Police allowed several thousand people to march peacefully through central Moscow on Saturday afternoon.

Organizer Lyubov Sobol at the Moscow protest.

8/31/19
MOSCOW -- Thousands of Russians defied authorities and marched in central Moscow, ignoring officials' warnings and pressing demands to let independent candidates run in upcoming city council elections. Police did not interfere with the August 31 protest, which was markedly smaller than previous ones. However, camouflaged officers linked arms to keep marchers out of the road when demonstrators arrived at Pushkin Square -- a symbolically important public park closer to the Kremlin. A heavy presence of detention buses and water-cannon trucks were visible on nearby side streets. Neither police nor independent watchdogs reported any arrests or detentions from the action -- in contrast to other recent protests in which thousands were detained, sometimes violently. The August 31 action was the latest in a series of confrontations between liberal activists and Moscow city authorities -- and the Kremlin. Demonstrators clapped and chanted "Russia Will Be Free!" and "Down With The Tsar!" as they walked along a leafy boulevard just a few kilometers north of the Kremlin. A leading opposition figure and one of the organizers of the march, Lyubov Sobol, led people chanting "Freedom For Political Prisoners." "People of different ages have come out because everyone wants justice. They want Russia to be free and happy and to not drown in lawlessness and mayhem. We demand this and we will not back down," she told reporters.

Thankfully, the Moscow authorities dialed down the police violence yesterday.

Related: Trying to Maintain Momentum as Election Approaches, Moscow Protests Again

 

[TheParser]

As a lifelong coward, I am in awe of those protesters.

Of course, they are wasting their time.

Russian elections are totally rigged (OK, not as badly as North Korea's).

Those protesters will have their names placed on a blacklist, which will harm their careers.

Some will be framed for various "crimes" and imprisoned.

My heart aches for the Russian people, who have never had a chance to live in a true democracy throughout that country's tortured history.

I agree that President Trump is sooooooo wrong to kowtow to Russia's current czar.

 

[bluesmoke]

Anybody want to guess what would happen to anyone who might become a popular threat to Putin?

 

[Rogue Valley]

Anybody want to guess what would happen to anyone who might become a popular threat to Putin?

Methods vary, but many ends are of the permanent type.

 

[bluesmoke]

Methods vary, but many ends are of the permanent type.

True. Like being put in jail for a time a bit before and until just after election to prevent any rabble-rousing.

 

[Rogue Valley]

True. Like being put in jail for a time a bit before and until just after election to prevent any rabble-rousing.

Can't have any rabble-rouser types interfering with ballot box stuffing now can we?

 

[bluesmoke]

Can't have any rabble-rouser types interfering with ballot box stuffing now can we?

Now that's what the Russian government would consider election interference.