On Feb 2, 2009, at 3:34 PM, Chris Doss wrote:
> Du-ude, have you read the article? People wanting to import Japanese
> cars + some anarchists + online activists = threat to government.
Financial Times - February 2, 2009
Protesters unite in anti-Kremlin demonstrations By Charles Clover and Catherine Belton in Moscow
Protesters rallied in several Russian cities at the weekend against a worsening economy and deteriorating human rights situation, a sign that Russia's financial crisis might yet challenge the Kremlin's hold on political stability.
Numbers were sparse at some of the events - which organisers called a national day of protest - as temperatures plunged to -15°C in Moscow. Authorities, however, seem aware that the turnout could swell if the economic situation does not improve by the March thaws.
They took no chances: at one planned demonstration, which had not received permission from the government, the organiser, Eduard Limonov of the outlawed National Bolshevik party, showed up alone to find - dozens of riot police waiting for him. Before he could say a word he was dragged to a police van. He was released yesterday.
Demonstrations in Russia had been rare until six weeks ago, but have become more frequent as inflation has risen and the rouble has sunk by about 33 per cent against the dollar since the summer. Just before Christmas, activists in the eastern city of Vladivostok, opposed to a rise in duties on cars, were beaten by police.
This weekend's demonstrations showed the diversity of opposition to the Kremlin - which consists not only of the democracy and human rights groups that gain most of the publicity in the west, but also communists, retired army officers and neo-fascist groups.
Those demonstrations that had received official permission proceeded in a relatively orderly manner.
Yesterday about 100 members of Slavic Union, a nationalist group, demonstrated in Moscow against allowing immigrants from China into Russia, while in a nearby park their ideological opposites, a human rights coalition calling itself Left Front, held a demonstration "against political killings" designed to draw attention to a spate of violence against democracy activists and journalists.
"I'm like the mental patient in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest , trying to escape from the asylum. I know it won't do anything but I try all the same," said one journalist participant in the latter rally, referring to the 1975 film starring Jack Nicholson.
Klavdia Zhukova, who was protesting with the communists, said she had joined the demonstration because her spending power had been hit by the 33 per cent devaluation of the rouble against the dollar in the last six months.
"In the space of two months the value of my salary has fallen," she said. "The authorities are taking all our money. Where does it all go?
"This is an American crisis. Why should it touch Russia? There they have all kinds of benefits and here we get nothing."