Protesters for defenders

On February 23, on Defender of the Fatherland Day, Moscow hosted more than 160 festive events. They laid wreaths, congratulated veterans of the war, rallied against military reform and the weak social protection of the military. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation was planning a march, ...

On February 23, on Defender of the Fatherland Day, Moscow hosted more than 160 festive events. They laid wreaths, congratulated veterans of the war, rallied against military reform and the weak social protection of the military.

The Communist Party planned a march, but the Moscow mayor's office only gave permission for the rally. There was no time to challenge the decision in court, and at 10 o'clock Moscow time, a party rally began on Triumfalnaya Square. It was attended, according to the chief lawyer of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Vadim Solovyov, about 10 thousand people (according to journalists - from two to four thousand), among whom were veterans, officers and representatives of left-wing patriotic parties: Komsomol, State Union, Union of Officers "and others.

According to Vadim Solovyov, the purpose of the rally is to protest against the reform of the army and the social insecurity of military personnel. The protesters demanded the resignation of Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov: because of his "unprofessionalism" and "use of official money for other purposes."

Another rally of the Communist Party was held today in Tver. However, there the police confiscated 40,000 party leaflets without explaining the reasons. These leaflets, according to Solovyov, reflected the socio-economic situation in the Tver region: unemployment and rising prices.

• Our mood is fighting, - says Vadim Solovyov, - it is possible to influence the army authorities only with the help of loud protests.

At 12.30 a rally of the Yabloko party began. Its purpose was to remind the Minister of Defense about the small pensions of military pensioners, and to call for social support for military personnel.

However, the rally did not last long: an hour later, Yabloko leader Sergei Mitrokhin, his assistant Anton Grakhovsky, and Major Anton Goretsky, chairman of the Moscow Region branch of the party, were detained.

Initially, the party was going to hold a rally on Gogolevsky Boulevard, but the Moscow Mayor's Office refused them and moved the rally to Chistoprudny Boulevard, explaining that a certain veteran party would be rallying on Gogolevsky at the same time. However, the Yabloko people did not go to Chistoprudny, and they did not see any "veteran party" on Gogolevsky Boulevard.

• We considered this postponement a mockery, - Sergei Mitrokhin explained to Novaya Gazeta. By five o'clock the Yabloko representatives were still in court until the circumstances were clarified. Most of all, the party was outraged by the detention of Major Anton Goretsky, the defender of the Fatherland, participating in hostilities in Afghanistan.

The party leader also recalled that a month ago the mayor's office refused to hold another rally on Gogolevsky Boulevard, explaining that the monument to Gogol located there is an object of cultural heritage. Why, in the opinion of the mayor's office, the monument to Griboyedov on Chistoprudny Boulevard is not such is unknown.

At 12 o'clock near the library named after Lenin, Nashi staged their picket. No one was criticized here. "Ours" stated that not only the military, but also law enforcement officers are the defenders of the Fatherland: OMON fighters, internal troops and policemen. So Nashi prepared banners with portraits of heroic policemen and spoke about their merits.

PS Also on this day, the LDPR, Labor Russia and the Union of Officers held their own rallies.