Russia: Thousands Rally In Second Week Of Protests

MOSCOW -- Thousands took to the streets of Moscow and St. Petersburg on Sunday, braving strong winds and torrential rains for a second week of protests over Russia's fraud-tainted parliamentary vote.

About 4,000 supporters of the Communist Party rallied just outside the walls of the Kremlin on a snowy afternoon, demanding a re-count and the government's resignation. Wind and rain later turned into a blizzard.

Frustration has grown with the ruling United Russia party and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, who has dominated Russian politics for over a decade.

"I think it's a crime to keep silent," said Vyacheslav Frolov, who was at the Moscow protest.

In St. Petersburg, a rally in a central square drew about 4,000 people from various political parties. Protesters chanted: "Russia without Putin!" and held posters saying "We want to live in an honest country!"

Natalya Sheikina, a 31-year-old teacher, said she went to the protest to show her discontent with the election results.

"The vote has been rigged," she said. "Exit polls and officials results differ dramatically."

The protests follow the Dec. 4 national parliamentary elections, in which United Russia lost a significant share of its seats in the State Duma, though it retained a narrow majority.

Opposition forces claim even that was unearned, supported by reports from local and international observers of widespread vote-count irregularities and outright fraud.

Sunday's demonstrations were small compared to nationwide rallies held in at least 60 Russian cities last weekend, including an unprecedented gathering of tens of thousands in Moscow.

_____

Irina Titova in St. Petersburg and Andrey Bulay in Moscow contributed to this report.

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Comments

[Etudiant]

06:30 PM on 12/19/2011

Wow, so many parochial comments here. Is the rest of the world an extension of the USA, or a theatre operated for the amusement of Americans?

The threat of violence and imprisonment against protesters in Russia is significantly heavier than that faced by the "Occupy" protesters in the US.

Russia is a country with severe systemic problems, of which the cornerstone is an entrenched culture of corruption, standing in the way of progress toward solving the others. Since Putin came to power, most Russian citizens seem to have fatalistically accepted the gradual erosion of their political rights - until now.

The election protests are an important - and to my mind, hopeful - development. This is big news. I would be grateful to see conditions improve in Russia, and I think it would be good news for the world as a whole. Россия без Путина!

[mnyegele]

02:26 PM on 12/19/2011

Putin has tried to rig elections, but the GOP is doing the same thing in the US, by passing all sorts of Voter ID laws - designed to deny millions of Americans their constitutionally guaranteed right to vote.

I am glad that some Russians are finally getting smart. Putin's Russia is essentially a Dick Cheney paradise - where the multi-billionaire oiligarchs run everything for their own interests. They hate the 99 % - one reason some Russians want the Communists back in power.

We do have a vested interest in Russian politics. Like Dick Cheney, the oiligarchs don't give a rat about carbon emissions and global climate change. In the meantime, billions of tons of methane are trapped in Russian permafrost. What will happen when this permafrost starts to melt, and this methane begins to escape? Methane is a far more dangerous greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide.
That possible scenario should terrify us all.

[Aeons]

02:23 PM on 12/19/2011

They are changing how they depict these photos for you, so it isn't as obvious that these pictures are picture of people giving white-power salutes and the clenched-fists.

Truth. Just because Russia doesn't give it to you, doesn't mean our media does.

[dzieczko]

01:58 PM on 12/19/2011

I'm a USA born and bred citizen who over heard a cell phone conversation at a bar in Vegas where the dude was bragging about being successful at launching the algorithm into the New Jersey election hardware that collected the data from e-voting booths - "....we got 25 votes reading as one vote...". So I don't think anyone can claim *clean* elections in USA which makes this WEIRD drumbeat of propaganda even weirder - what's the point?!

Maybe the majority of Russians just don't want Stalin's grandchildren (*communist* party) back in charge of anything to do with recovering from 100 years of savage murdering *revolution*.

Putin is not a Stalin, but you can bet that the *challengers* to Putin would end up following another *Stalin*....they're genetically defective as human beings as they are from the criminal element of the *peasant* class under the last Czar.

No surprise that global sociopaths all do business together. What is surprising is that *government* in USA makes sure no one *good* connects with the *good* in any other foreign country - only with the CIA's hand-picked murdering *strong men*....

[357]

01:25 PM on 12/19/2011

The Russian protests are a joke. These people are mad that their political party lost and the West is using this to once again build propaganda against the Russian government. Seriously, the Communist Party is protesting and the world acts like it cares. Putin is trying to renew his country (which he already did between 2000-2008) and make Russia a strong super power once again (econ. and military included). This is what has the great super powers of the west worried not election fraud.

[moccasinmike]

12:20 PM on 12/19/2011

as i believe the police in russia would be or could be brutal i believe these demonstrations may work as it is real people acting pretty organized and peacefull, letting the goverment know they are upset, and as they must have there subversives im impressed with the tone of the protesters,the message is getting out,theOWS dog and poney show should learn a lesson from the masses in russia.

[sylvia wadlington]

12:13 PM on 12/19/2011

All over the planet the 99%'ers are protesting the 1%'ers. To put it better, the people are protesting those who live in luxuury with the wealth that others create and they suck off. This may die down for a while if the masses get a few bread crumbs thrown their way, but too many people are educated now and are busy educating others. All over the world people are realizing that the privileged have been using the people's own ignorance to control them and we may be witnessing another of the great changes in human evolution. Education shows people the truth. This is a huge planet, loaded with natural resources, with billions of amazingly talented people who want to work. There is no real reason why everyone one the planet can't have food, shelter, healthcare and the freedom to follow their dreams. Organizing the world to make this happen is what globalization should be about, not just making big oil, big insurance, big pharma, big banking and all the wall street types richer.

[Moonspirit48]

01:02 PM on 12/19/2011

Well said! Fanned and faved.

[rsxsims]

11:57 AM on 12/19/2011

putin is not the "easter bunny" and has no plans for hopping away..at least peacefully...no matter what the general russian public wants..

[PALEOLOGOS DRAGASH]

11:24 AM on 12/19/2011

Russia without Putin?

I'll believe it when I see America without the Clintons.

[houston we have aproblem]

10:42 AM on 12/19/2011

hanging chad anyone?

[joecan1]

10:28 AM on 12/19/2011

Protests in Russia get more publicity here than protests in our own country get.

[Elwoodlr]

11:57 AM on 12/19/2011

The media is always sticking their nose into something that's not a real issue about the United States (smoke screen ) It's never been a policy to ralley around the real issues here in the States that involve the common person or working poor. The goverment has seen to it the middle class now is in the poor section , what once was poor our goverment is pushing them into total poverty.
Very sad

[joecan1]

02:28 PM on 12/19/2011

Well said. F/F

[NativeTeaology]

10:02 AM on 12/19/2011

'Russia Without Putin!'

A Blessing For The Russian People!

[LillytheLabradoodle]

08:27 AM on 12/19/2011

Good for them, but there are so many countries trying to rid themselves of their corrupt government, that I am worried about foreign relations with the changing powers and alliances. I would rather not have a bomb dropped on me!

[Moonspirit48]

01:05 PM on 12/19/2011

It's not all about you :-(

So you don't agree that the American Revolution should have happened because it would have caused changing powers and alliances??

[eddy joe]

07:32 AM on 12/19/2011

Just a few years ago, there was fear that Putin would become a Russian dictator. How quickly things change.

[natal plum]

09:31 AM on 12/19/2011

Yeah, he's already become one.

[Moonspirit48]

01:05 PM on 12/19/2011

Yes, he has become a dictator but the people are upset about it. Which is good.

[Tuula Westra]

07:14 AM on 12/19/2011

The Rusians are doing what the USA is doing, protesting about the corrupted, greedy Goverment.

[tnjim45]

07:37 AM on 12/19/2011

Protesting yes, but they are Communist, which in case you didn't know, is the greediest form of big government.

[natal plum]

09:32 AM on 12/19/2011

As long as the price of Vodka is stabilized the Russians won't protest much of anything.

[Moonspirit48]

01:06 PM on 12/19/2011

What a bigoted statement! I hope you are removed from this comment thread.