By Theodora Filis
On Monday, December 5, 2011, in what is said to be the largest opposition rally in years, thousands of people took to the streets of Moscow demanding an end to Putin's 12-year rule, defying a crackdown by tens of thousands of police.
Russian police detained more than 600 people over two nights of protests against alleged fraud in last Sunday's parliamentary elections in which Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party won by a very small majority – President Dmitry Medvedev said the vote was free and democratic.
Russian police detained more than 600 people over two nights of protests against alleged fraud in last Sunday's parliamentary elections in which Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party won by a very small majority – President Dmitry Medvedev said the vote was free and democratic.
The election outcome highlighted growing unease with the 59-year-old leader, Vladimir Putin. Plans to reclaim the presidency next year by the former KGB spy could be spoiled by the prime minister's worst election setback since he took power in 1999.
The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe said the election was marked by a “lack of fairness” and “slanted” in favor of Putin's party, United Russia. The Russian electoral commission has said the vote was fair and valid, though President Dmitry Medvedev has said accusations of cheating must be investigated.
“We demand new elections because what happened on December 4 was a falsification,” opposition activist Yevgeniya Chirikova told the crowd, before leading them in a sustained chant of “Thieves and Swindlers!” a reference to United Russia’s popular, unofficial nickname.
Influential blogger and anti-graft campaigner, Alexei Navalny, was sentenced on Tuesday, December 6, to 15 days imprisonment for his part in a protest earlier last week. Protestors cheered while the letter he had written from behind bars was read aloud:
‘To struggle for freedom is sweet,” Navalny’s letter said. “Every one of us has the most powerful and only weapon we need - a sense of our own worthiness.”
Navalny accused Putin, and United Russia, of manipulating voters into believing that the price for stability and economic growth was “to live like mute cattle.”
“They fed us that for 12 years,” his letter went on. “And we are sick of it. We are not slaves and we are not cattle. It’s time to wake up from our slumber!”
It is said that protestors come from all walks of life, with groups of teenagers mingling with pensioners and young families.
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