Thread: Moskovia has saved!!!: Thousands join pro- and anti-Putin protests

WHITE REVOLUTION. 120,000 Anti-putinists
For the Dwarf 15,000 putinists ( and most of them were paid or ordered to attend)
Publication time: 4 February 2012, 18:58

The Associated Press reports from Moscow on anti-Putin and pro-Putin rallies:

"Protesters wearing white ribbons and holding placards reading "Russia Without Putin!" and "For Free Elections" marched to a square across the river from the Kremlin where a rally was held.

Saturday's crowd appeared to be even bigger than two similar rallies held in December, despite temperatures plunging to minus 4 Fahrenheit (minus 20 degrees Celsius).

The previous rallies _ the second of which drew 120,000 people, according to organizers _ were the biggest in Russia since the protests 20 years ago that paved the way to the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The authorities have sanctioned Saturday's march, even though they had rejected the organizers' earlier request to gather just outside the Kremlin.

"So many of us have come that they can's arrest all of us", said 56-year old protester Alexander Zelensky.

He and his wife, Alyona Karimova, said they had begun preparations to emigrate to Canada in the fall, but then changed their minds and decided to stay in the hope that the nation will eventually move toward democracy.

"This is going to be a gradual process, but we believe it will eventually lead to democracy and free elections", Karimova said.

Protesters, many bundled in fur coats against the cold, chanted "Putin, go away!" and "Russia without Putin!" Communists and nationalists also joined the protest, waving big flags.

But protesters at Saturday's rally denounced the race as illegitimate, saying that tight controls over the political scene imposed by Putin during his 12-year rule have removed any genuine political competition.

"These elections are false and illegitimate", said one of the opposition leaders, Ilya Yashin.

Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the opposition Yabloko party who was barred from the race by election authorities, said the fight will not end after the presidential election.

"We are defending the future of our country", he said. "Our foes will soon see that it's only the beginning".

In an apparent attempt to demonstrate a massive public support for Putin, his backers gathered across town, but their rally only drew about 15,000.

Municipal workers, union activists and teachers who showed up there said they came of their own will, but some admitted they had been asked by authorities to attend", AP reports from Moscow.

It is to be recalled in this connection that Moscow police gave false numbers of participants of the rallies. According to a distorted summary of Putin's police thugs, 100,000 to 140 putinists, and35,000 anti-putinists took part in separate rallies.

And the Putin's crook mayor of Moscow, Sobyanin, even reported to Putin that 190,000 putinists supposedly came out to support him in Moscow. Putin was pleased with the figure very much and he even boasted about it in the Russian-occupied capital of South Ural Republic, Chelyabinsk.

In fact, as pointed out by numerous observers and independent journalists, 6,000 to 120,000 anti-putinists marched against that Russian Czar in Moscow, while only 15,000, royalists appeared in the cold to support their beloved Czar.

The events in Moscow on February 4 showed that Putin's political career failed further in decline. Most commentators agree with the opinion that February 4 was a critical day, and the mass demonstration under 20 degrees centigrade cold against Putin and his regime was nothing else but a real revolution.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe...629270737.html

Tens of thousands of protesters have gathered in the Russian capital to challenge Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's grip on power, a month before he stands in presidential elections.

Activists braved freezing temperatures on Saturday as they began marching though Moscow in a bid to demand a free and fair presidential poll.

Government supporters, meanwhile, began to gather in the west of the city for a rival rally, amid increasing complaints claiming that teachers, nurses and state employees had been offered cash incentives or even given orders to attend the pro-Putin event.

"Between 87,000 and 90,000 are attending the [pro-Putin] rally that has started at Poklonnaya Gora" in western Moscow, capital city police said in a statement. "Around 23,000 are taking part in the [opposition] march."

Elsewhere, hundreds of Russian opposition members filled the streets of the far eastern city of Vladivostok, calling for fair elections.

The third mass anti-Putin rally in less than two months will be seen as a crucial test of the nascent protest movement's ability to keep up its momentum despite the prime minister's refusal to bow to opposition demands that include a re-run of December parliamentary polls.

The two previous opposition rallies in Moscow on December 10 and 24 gathered tens of thousands of people in the largest protests of Putin's 12-year rule as president and prime minister.

Harsh cold spell

The new demonstration comes after the country's 10-day New Year holidays and in a harsh cold spell, with temperatures in Moscow expected to hover around -17C.

The organisers are hoping the big freeze will not discourage Russians from taking part in the march and subsequent rally.
"It will be a very important event," prominent detective novelist and opposition activist Boris Akunin told the AFP news agency.

"It is also because it's very cold in Moscow and this march will show just how freeze-proof our sense of dignity and freedom is."

For many Russians, Saturday's rally carries special symbolism because it coincides with the anniversary of a February 4, 1990 rally when up to 300,000 took to the streets just before the fall of the Soviet Union to demand the end of the Communist Party's grip on power.

Cap on demonstrators

Veteran liberal politician Grigory Yavlinsky, who has been excluded from the March 4 presidential election by the central election commission on procedural grounds, is expected to speak at Saturday's protest.

Billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the only independent allowed by election officials to run, also said he would be there.

More than 27,000 people said on Facebook that they would attend the march, which will move from the southern end of the city centre to a square just over the Moscow river from the Kremlin, where the event will close with a rally.

Authorities have said no more than 50,000 can take part in the anti-Putin demonstration and have made a series of calls to dissuade Russians from turning up.

Putin's supporters are hoping tens of thousands show up for the rival rally in Poklonnaya Gora War Memorial Park in a demonstration called the "anti-Orange protest", in a reference to Ukraine's 2004 Orange Revolution that ousted its old order from power and infuriated the Kremlin.

Complaints have multiplied in recent days that employees of state companies are being offered cash incentives or have been ordered to attend the pro-Putin rally. Authorities have denied the accusations.

Originally Posted by raymondo

We are white .
What colour you imagine you are is of no interest .Possibly Yellow .

All whites were killed at Civil war 1918-22. Yesterday there was orange foam on Bolotnaya square. Learn the subject who is named in what way in Russia.

Originally Posted by litwin

it is a - 19 for Gods sake ...

you are not one of them right? mind to explain why?

I'm not with orange foam because I very well remember 90s. I was not on Poklonnaya Gora because I live 850 kilometers from Moscow.

Originally Posted by Potap

All whites were killed at Civil war 1918-22. Yesterday there was orange foam on Bolotnaya square. Learn the subject who is named in what way in Russia.

Your Post is idiotic as the Antis have chosen white and the pro faction have chosen orange . They are not interested in your views on this matter , Potop .
Nor do they need to be reminded of basic Historical facts -- they choose what they wish , and if they decide to make their "flag" pink with a bunch of yellow daffodils , it is no concern of yours .

Originally Posted by raymondo

Your Post is idiotic as the Antis have chosen white and the pro faction have chosen orange . They are not interested in your views on this matter , Potop .
Nor do they need to be reminded of basic Historical facts -- they choose what they wish , and if they decide to make their "flag" pink with a bunch of yellow daffodils , it is no concern of yours .

Probably you speak about a certain alternative Russia from a parallel universe?

Originally Posted by Potap

Probably you speak about a certain alternative Russia from a parallel universe?

It is clear from your Posts that you have a problem of both reading and understanding at the same time . Please concentrate harder .
I have showed your Posts to both sides involved in this Civil War and they think you are not Russian and come from Belarus or Moldova .

Originally Posted by raymondo

It is clear from your Posts that you have a problem of both reading and understanding at the same time . Please concentrate harder .
I have showed your Posts to both sides involved in this Civil War and they think you are not Russian and come from Belarus or Moldova .

Why are you so paranoid about russia?

Originally Posted by Potap

I'm not with orange foam because I very well remember 90s. I was not on Poklonnaya Gora because I live 850 kilometers from Moscow.

i know, emotionally you are on the putin side right?

Originally Posted by Potap

All whites were killed at Civil war 1918-22. Yesterday there was orange foam on Bolotnaya square. Learn the subject who is named in what way in Russia.

wrong. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_movement http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_Emigre