Thousands in streets over pro and anti-Putin rallies
PHOTO | AFP | ANDREY SMIRNOV
Demonstrators brave the cold (-17 C) while taking part in an anti-Putin rally in central Moscow, on February 4, 2012, to urge Putin to quit power ahead of March 4 polls in which he is planning to reclaim his old Kremlin job. Tens of thousands took today to the streets of Moscow for rival rallies duelling over Russia's future, in a test of strength for the anti-Vladimir Putin movement one month before presidential polls.
MOSCOW, Saturday
Tens of thousands took to the streets of Moscow on Saturday for rival rallies arguing over the future of Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in a trial of political strength one month ahead of presidential polls.
While protesters from the anti-Putin movement massed for their third rally in less than two months urging the Russian strongman to quit, his supporters also filled a square in western Moscow to bursting point.
Police said 138,000 turned up for the pro-Putin rally in the west of the capital and put the number of protesters at the anti-Putin event at around 36,000. However opposition rally organisers insisted they mobilised over 120,000.
Bundled up in down jackets, fur coats and felt boots, the protesters defied freezing weather of around minus 17 degrees Celsius as Russia’s political temperature heated up ahead of the March 4 elections.
The rally by the anti-Putin movement — its third since disputed December 4 parliamentary polls — was seen as a crucial test of whether activists can keep their momentum to pose a real challenge to the Russian strongman.
“We are not afraid of the frost. We are afraid of lies,” said Mikhail Matrosov, a 51-year-old businessman who came to the rally with his friends. “We are for fair elections,” he said.
The protesters marched onto Bolotnaya Square just on the other side of the Moscow river from the Kremlin and massed to hear speeches from activists and politicians calling on Putin to quit for the sake of the country.
“Putin wants to rule forever! One, two, three Putin leave!” cried opposition activist Ilya Yashin.
Leader of opposition Yabloko party, Grigory Yavlinsky, said: “We are different but we are all of the same colour, the colours of the Russian flag!”
(AFP)
