The Baltic Review correspondents provide live Twitter updates from a new demonstration against electoral fraud in Moscow. The feed starts at 9 am CET. The event is supposed to be attended by 27 thousand people, according to the its official page on Facebook. The organizers hope that at least 50 thousand people will come.
Previous huge rally in Moscow was held on Sakharov Avenue on December 24 | Photo: RIA Novosti
The demonstration takes place just a month before next the presidential elections, when Vladimir Putin will seek a third term. Those who attend the protests today are urging “not to give a single vote to Putin”, as one of its organizers Boris Nemtsov said earlier this week. The prior demands, like resignation of the Central Election Committee chairman Vladimir Churov and conducting new parliamentary elections are also used.
The demonstrators are going to march almost 1.5 kilometers along Bolshaya Yakimanka Street. Then a short rally will be held on Bolotnaya square at the same place where the first mass demonstration took place on December, 10.
This time the weather might be a reason for many people to stay at home. Two hours before the demonstration the thermometer 21 degrees below zero, but the organizers hope that at least 50 thousand people will come to protest against electoral cheating, and ask people to put on warm clothes. The Moscow march will be supported by demonstrations in other Russian cities, including St. Petersburg and Yekaterinburg. Events in Brussels, New York, San Francisco, and Washington are also planned.
The demonstration in Moscow was once again sponsored by its very participants. The organizers managed to collect all the money they needed, although there were less contributions comparing to previous rally in December. Russian Prosecutor General Yury Chaika’s accused the opposition in receiving money from abroad, but the authorities did not check any sources of the income, as Russian journalist Olga Romanova, who was responsible for collecting the money, said exclusively for The Baltic Review. She added that it was technically impossible to donate money from abroad.
Several other rallies are held in Moscow at the same time. Pro-Kremlin activists are to attend an “anti-orange” event, referring to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine that they think was organized by the United States. They believe the demands to hold new elections to the State Duma are supposed to “slip the country towards chaos” and “undermine democracy”.
Populist leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who will take part in the elections along with Vladimir Putin, refused to march with the opposition. Instead, he is organizing his own rally in the center of the Russian capital.
Some liberal politicians who oppose to the idea of inviting nationalists and communists to the new demonstration, hold their own rally on Sakharov Avenue.
Stay tuned with the help of our Twitter widget. Our correspondents’ messages in English will appear with #antiputin hashtag. For German translation, please check #massdemonstration.
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Article source: http://baltic-review.com/2012/02/live-twitter-updates-from-the-new-anti-putin-demonstration-will-be-run-by-the-baltic-review/
