Tens of thousands of people participated in opposition rallies against alleged unfair parliamentary elections in Russia. The biggest was in Moscow: up to 120 thousand people demanded Russia’s prime-minister Vladimir Putin resignation.
“Putin Thief”, “We need fair elections”, “Register opposition parties” — these were slogans of Russia’s biggest protest rally since the day of parliamentary elections and since the beginning of post-Soviet Russia.
Famous Russian writer Boris Akunin, known for his public support to former oligarch and Putin’s opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky, said he “hasn’t seen such Moscow for the last 20 years”. Opposition leaders, rights activists, well-known journalists and public figures appealed to the people to take further action to control authorities and use democratic tools to change government policy. The rally’s resolution included five points:
– Political prisoners to be released immediately;
– Elections results to be cancelled;
– The head of the Central Election Commission Vladimir Churov to resign,and his activities and election fraud to be investigated;
– Opposition parties to be registered, democratic election law to be passed;
– New fair elections to be held.
Rally participants agreed the authorities now have two weeks to react and fulfil their requirements. If not, a new rally, a bigger one, will be held on 24 December in Moscow and other cities. Opposition parties Yabloko and Communist Party, who took part in protest on 10 December, also resolved to remind the authorities about people’s demands on two rallies of their own — on 17 and 18 December respectively.
This day is not just remarkable because Moscow hasn’t faceda rally like this in 20 years, but also because other cities protested. Similar rallies were held in Saint Petersburg, Khabarovsk, Perm, Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Samara amd other cities. Protests of solidarity were held outside Russia, too, in London, New-York, Oslo, Helsinki, Lisbon, Barcelona, Paris, Jerusalem, Tokio, Dublin, Berlin, Prague, Rome.
In most Russian cities policemen arrested tens of acivists, but in Moscow they earned applause from the rally participants for their unexpected accommodation. Previous Moscow protests against elections results have been marked with hundreds of detentions and cruel police actions.
Russian TV, just like the Moscow police, surprised people by broadcasting news about the rally. Previous protests were not covered. The current rally waseven covered live, although neither Putin nor Medvedev were criticised on air and the rally’s topic — mass election fraud — was not explained or discussed during the broadcasts. Most items looked like reports on how well the police performed and how bad the traffic jams were because of the rally.
Inspite of rights activists’ words about “civil society rebirth” and “dramatic changes in Russia”, the Central Election Commission deputy Stanislav Vavilov said the Commission will not review election results. Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalist the government “has not yet formed an opinion on the rally”.
But post-Soviet Russia has changed already: Never before has it faced tens of thousands of people chanting that they, not Putin and his “United Russia”, are the real power.
Tens of thousands of people participated in opposition rallies against alleged unfair parliamentary elections in Russia. The biggest was in Moscow: up to 120,000 people demanded the resignation of Russia’s prime-minister Vladimir Putin.
“Putin Thief”, “We need fair elections”, “Register opposition parties” — these were slogans of Russia’s biggest protest rally since the day of parliamentary elections and since the beginning of post-Soviet Russia.
Famous Russian writer Boris Akunin, known for his public support to former oligarch and Putin’s opponent Mikhail Khodorkovsky, said he “hasn’t seen such Moscow for the last 20 years”. Opposition leaders, rights activists, well-known journalists and public figures appealed to the people to take further action to control authorities and use democratic tools to change government policy. The rally’s resolution included five points:
– Political prisoners to be released immediately;
– Elections results to be cancelled;
– The head of the Central Election Commission Vladimir Churov to resign,and his activities and election fraud to be investigated;
– Opposition parties to be registered, democratic election law to be passed;
– New fair elections to be held.
Rally participants agreed the authorities now have two weeks to react and fulfil their requirements. If not, a new rally, a bigger one, will be held on 24 December in Moscow and other cities. Opposition parties Yabloko and Communist Party, who took part in protest on 10 December, also resolved to remind the authorities about people’s demands on two rallies of their own — on 17 and 18 December respectively.
This day is not just remarkable because Moscow hasn’t faced a rally like this in 20 years, but also because other cities protested. Similar rallies were held in Saint Petersburg, Khabarovsk, Perm, Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Samara amd other cities. Protests of solidarity were held outside Russia, too, in London, New-York, Oslo, Helsinki, Lisbon, Barcelona, Paris, Jerusalem, Tokio, Dublin, Berlin, Prague, Rome.
In most Russian cities policemen arrested tens of activists, but in Moscow they earned applause from the rally participants for their unexpected accommodation. Previous Moscow protests against election results have been marked with hundreds of detentions and cruel police actions.
Russian TV, just like the Moscow police, surprised people by broadcasting news about the rally. Previous protests were not covered. The current rally was even covered live, although neither Putin nor Medvedev were criticised on air and the rally’s topic — mass election fraud — was not explained or discussed during the broadcasts. Most items looked like reports on how well the police performed and how bad the traffic jams were because of the rally.
Inspite of rights activists’ words about “civil society rebirth” and “dramatic changes in Russia”, the Central Election Commission deputy Stanislav Vavilov said the Commission will not review election results. Putin’s spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told journalist the government “has not yet formed an opinion on the rally”.
But post-Soviet Russia has changed already: Never before has it faced tens of thousands of people chanting that they, not Putin and his “United Russia”, are the real power.
The Ivorian government has suspended a newspaper for twelve days over an opinion piece that criticised a recent White House meeting with African leaders. The column in Les Temps newspaper — which supported former president Laurent Gbagbo — was originally published online by a blogger critical of President Ouattara. It called Obama a “gang boss”, while describing an alleged conspiracy among the recently elected leaders of Benin, Niger, Guinea, and Ivory Coast to seize Africa’s riches. In its ruling, the state-run National Press Council called the writings “unacceptable”. The council previously suspended Le Temps for six editions over an 11 June column by reporter Germain Sehoué that claimed the Ouattara government was dominated ethnic groups from the North. The council suspended Sehoué from writing for two months, accusing him of “inciting tribal hatred and revolt” and “threatening the consolidation of peace in Ivory Coast.”
The deaths of two ethnic Mongolians, allegedly killed by Han Chinese, in China’s Inner Mongolia region in May, has sparked the worst riots this region has seen in decades. Many areas, including the regional capital, Hohhot, are under martial law.
Scores of people have been detained and there is no information on possible deaths.
Enghebatu Togochog, director of the US-based Southern Mongolia Watch, a pressure group advocating ethnic Mongolian rights in China, told UNCUT:
We are still unable to verify it [a possible death count]. However we confirmed that there have been arrests of dozens in Hohhot on May 30 during the protest. Exact number of the detainees is still yet to be confirmed. In Shiliin-gol league at least 44 people were arrested, and none of them have been released so far.
It’s no surprise then that China’s censors have sprung into action to control news of the unrest. Internet and phones services have either been cut off or are intermittent in some areas.
Nationally, top micro-blogging sites such as Sina (Weibo) and Tencent (Taotao), have reportedly blocked searches with the keywords “Inner Mongolia” and “Hohhot” with the message: “according to related laws, regulations and policies, the results of your search cannot be displayed.” See image.
The domestic news service has more or less shied away from reporting such a major news story although the English-language China-based media has offered some low-key coverage.
Of interest is an opinion piece in the Global Times yesterday, headlined “Putting Mongolian protests into context”, which takes a sympathetic slant towards the protesters.
It argues that the Mongolians have genuine concerns.
“Some of their requests are reasonable, and should be responded to by the local government,” it said.
Followed by: “We believe the majority of Chinese sympathize with their reasonable requests.”
The deaths sparked long-held resentment about the damage Han-owned coal mines have done to the local grasslands and government efforts to control local herders’ lives, as well as anger over the men’s deaths.
The New York Times commented that the authorities are acting in a much more conciliatory way compared with how ethnic Uighur and Tibetan violence was handled in protests in Xinjiang province in 2009 and in Tibet a year earlier.
“The acknowledgment of the anger, coupled with the large deployment of soldiers and police officers, suggested that the authorities were intent on avoiding the ethnic mayhem that struck other areas of China.”
At least hundreds of people died in those protests.
