MOSCOW (Reuters) – Tens of thousands of flag-waving and chanting protesters called yesterday for a disputed parliamentary election to be rerun and an end to Vladimir Putin’s rule, increasing pressure on the Russian leader as he tries to win back the presidency.
The protesters shouted “Russia without Putin” and “New elections, New elections” as one speaker after another called for an end to Putin’s 12-year domination of the country at the second big opposition rally in two weeks in central Moscow.
“Do you want Putin to return to the presidency?” novelist Boris Akunin asked from a large stage. Whistling and jeering, protesters chanted: “No!”
Witnesses said at least as many people turned out as at the last big Moscow rally on Dec. 10 to protest against alleged vote-rigging in the Dec. 4 election won by Putin’s United Russia party.
Police said at least 28,000 attended the rally on Prospekt Sakharova (Sakharov Ave-nue), named after Soviet-era dissident Andrei Sakharov. But one of the organisers, liberal politician Vladimir Ryzhkov, put the crowd size at 120,000. Some climbed lamp-posts or trees to get a better view.
The big turnout is likely to encourage organisers to believe they can keep up the momentum of the biggest opposition demonstrations since Putin rose to power in 1999, although the prime minister seems intent on riding out the protests.
“I see enough people to take the Kremlin and the White House (government headquarters) right now!” anti-corruption blogger Alexei Navalny, who has emerged as the most inspirational of the opposition leaders, said to loud cheers.
“But we are a peaceful force, we won’t do it – yet. But if the crooks and thieves continue trying to deceive us and lie to us, we will take (power) ourselves. It is ours!”
The organisers did not set a date for the next protest. Russia is about to start the 10-day New Year holiday when it would be hard to attract large numbers to rallies.
Protesters
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The protesters were heartened yesterday by the Kremlin’s human rights council saying a new election should be held, although it is only an advisory body whose recommendations are regularly ignored by Russia’s leaders.
Many of the protesters wore white ribbons, the symbol of the protests, and others carried balloons and flags at the rally, which brought together liberals, nationalists, anarchists, environmentalists and urban youth on a bitterly cold day.
“The last protest made a huge impression and I want others to come and realise they can stand up for their right. We all know the election results and we all know how dishonest they were,” said Andrei Chernyshov, a 22-year-old student.
President Dmitry Medvedev, who is stepping aside for Putin to return to the Kremlin after four years as prime minister, has promised electoral reforms to relax the Kremlin’s grip on power.
But the opposition has rejected these conciliatory efforts and says Putin and Medvedev have ignored its key demand for a rerun of the poll, in which United Russia won a slim majority.
The protesters say United Russia benefited from widespread voting irregularities and international monitors said the vote was slanted in the ruling party’s favour.
“The party of swindlers and thieves are the only ones who benefit from the preservation of the status quo,” journalist Leonid Parfyonov said on a video message shown on a screen.
Protesters held signs saying: “For Russia without Putin.”
