Anti-Putin protesters show their strength in Russia
Source: Reuters through Yahoo
MOSCOW (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of demonstrators marched though Moscow under streaming banners, flags and balloons on Saturday to demand an end to President Vladimir Putin's long rule and show their protest movement remains strong.
Protesters chanted "Russia without Putin!" in the first big rally since June, defying increasingly tough Kremlin measures against the opposition since the former KGB spy began another six years in the Kremlin in May.
Some demonstrators released colorful balloons decorated with ski masks like the ones worn by the Pussy Riot punk band, three of whose members have been jailed for singing a profanity-laced protest song against Putin in a church.
Witnesses said opposition leaders appeared to have achieved their goal of attracting at least 50,000 people, enough to maintain the momentum of their nine-month-old movement but almost certainly too few to increase alarm in the Kremlin.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/anti-putin-protesters-show-strength-russia-060539510.html
David__77
(23,220 posts)It's funny, because George H.W. Bush was former HEAD of the CIA, but foreign media did not regularly refer to him as "former spy."
loli phabay
(5,580 posts)loli phabay
(5,580 posts)i missed the election how many votes did putin get,
davidn3600
(6,342 posts)Do you want the REAL vote count or the official Kremlin tally?
loli phabay
(5,580 posts)Stake
(200 posts)part of opposition is usual criminals
very pity
pampango
(24,692 posts)marched down Moscow's tree-lined boulevards chanting "Russia without Putin!" and "We are the power here!" Many wore the white ribbons that have become the symbol of the protest movement."
The first major protest against President Vladimir Putin after a summer lull drew tens of thousands of people, determined to show that opposition sentiment remains strong despite Kremlin efforts to muzzle dissent. The street protests broke out after a December parliamentary election won by Putin's party through what observers said was widespread fraud, and they grew in strength ahead of Putin's effectively unopposed election in March to a third presidential term.
Putin has shown less tolerance for the opposition since his inauguration in May. New repressive laws have been passed to deter people from joining protests, and opposition leaders have been subject to searches and interrogations.
Gleb Pavlovsky, a former Kremlin political consultant, who attended Saturday's rally, estimated that up to 500,000 people have taken part in the protests in Moscow, a city of 11.5 million. He said the Kremlin has not figured out how to deal with the protest movement. "Therefore, they alternate between taking tough action and stepping back from confrontation," Pavlovsky said. "For the Kremlin, it is very worrying that Moscow no longer supports Putin ..."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/15/russia-protests-anti-putin_n_1886463.html
I doubt these demonstrations worry Mr. Putin very much. He knows where his power lies and it is not threatened by people massing in the streets.