http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1010/42/375953.htm
Vladimir Filonov / MT
Zyuganov speaking at a Moscow rally on Saturday. The bigger banner
reads, "Anti-people government resign!"??
Communist Rallies Draw Thousands
06 April 2009By Anna Malpas, Alexandra Odynova / NIZHNY NOVGOROD --
Thousands of Communists took to the streets in national protests Saturday with
anti-government signs that included the pointed query to President Dmitry
Medvedev, "Where is the money, Dima?"
Ahead of the rallies, the Communist Party said more than 5 million people
would participate, but it was impossible to determine how many had actually
shown up. Neither the Communists nor the police provided national figures as of
Sunday.
The Communists said 7,000 people attended a gathering addressed by party
leader Gennady Zyuganov on Moscow's Triumfalnaya Ploshchad. But two Moscow
Times journalists saw 1,000 to 2,000 people at most.
The protests are seen as a test of the Communist Party's ability to
harness growing dissatisfaction with the economic crisis and turn it into
political muscle.
"Many families are on the edge of survival, unemployment is growing,"
Viktor Ilyukhin, a senior Communist deputy in the State Duma, said by telephone
Friday. "Citizens aren't relying on the government to support them any more."
The slogan "Where is the Money, Dima?" -- announced on the Communist
Party web site for use at regional protests -- reflects ordinary people's
financial situation, Ilyukhin said. "The savings that citizens had have
practically run out," he said.
In Nizhny Novgorod, about 300 people protested peacefully at noon
Saturday next to the city's Lenin monument. Many were elderly, but there were
also young Communists and members of The Other Russia, the opposition
coalition. Only four police officers watched the rally, which was held under a
main banner reading, "Putin's Government Should Resign."
Mikhail Sharabanov, a student activist from the city's Avtozavodsky
district, gave a speech about huge job cuts at GAZ, the troubled Nizhny
Novgorod-based car giant, that was "once the pride of the country." He called
for Communists to act, drawing loud applause.
"Comrades, we have been patient long enough. We are calling for decisive
action," he said.
Afterward, rolling up a Lenin flag, Sharabanov said, "In the conditions
of a complete information blockade, these meetings are the only way to bring
our views to the people."
The Communists have accused state-controlled national television of
ignoring their activities.
Vladimir Filonov / MT
Hundreds of people calling for the government to resign at a
Communist rally on Triumfalnaya Ploshchad on Saturday. National protests drew
large crowds of people worried about the economic crisis.
Alexander Krasnov, a 21 year-old microengineering student, said that in
his hometown in the Nizhny Novgorod region there is no work and his friends
travel 140 kilometers per day to commute to Nizhny Novgorod. "In the region,
the situation is catastrophic, all the factories have stopped working," he
said. "If the authorities don't listen to protests and the voice of the people,
we will have to come out and block the roads. If they don't listen, it will
spark more protests around Russia."
Emma Shchyogolova, a pensioner who worked at a defense research
institute, said she came to the rally mainly because of growing prices on her
apartment and food. "Living on a pension is very hard. Two-thirds of it goes to
apartment fees and less than 2,000 rubles [$60] is left," she said.
Svetlana Galgovskaya, 71, said she was worried about her children who run
a small printing business. "They are fighting for survival. The government
doesn't help small business at all," she said.
Back in Moscow, mainly elderly protesters stood with red flags and
anti-Kremlin posters reading "Putin's plan: Russian version of the crisis."
Natalya, 65, a former railroad conductor who refused to give her last name,
said she had come because she "disagreed with everything happening in the
country." She was carrying a red flag.
OMON riot police detained a dozen activists from the pro-Kremlin youth
Young Guard chanting "Communism is the evil of Russia" close to the
cordoned-off rally. Two more activists were detained when they started to throw
anti-Soviet leaflets into the crowd. Police said the activists were released
later in the day.
Zyuganov criticized the state's anti-crisis policies and the work of
ministries during the hour-long rally.
Activists from opposition groups joined the Communists in many cities.
"It is an act of solidarity of political forces over to the [government's]
anti-crisis program," said Sergei Udaltsov, coordinator of the Left Front
group. He said Friday that Left Front activists would attend rallies in 40
regions, including Moscow. Other Russia spokesman Alexander Averin said Friday
that a "small number" of activists from his organization would participate.
Meanwhile, Vladivostok prosecutors ruled Friday that a banner reading
"Putler Kaput" carried by opposition activists at several rallies was
"offensive" and issued an official warning to the regional branch of the
Communist Party, RIA-Novosti reported.
The slogan was examined by experts from the Justice Ministry who ruled it
"offensive" and called it a "vividly expressed emotional assessment of the
personality or acts of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin," Irina
Nomokonova, a spokeswoman for the region's prosecutor, told Interfax.
"The organizers of marches and meetings were told of the unacceptability
of using this slogan in future," Nomokonova said.
The local Communist leader, Vladimir Bespalov, said the warning was "a
form of pressure on the opposition," RIA-Novosti reported.
Anna Malpas reported from Nizhny Novgorod.
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