OMON day

We have three holidays that Russians perceive primarily as an extraordinary weekend, often unexpected, because they rarely remember them - this is the Day of Russia (June 12), the Constitution Day (December 12) and, finally, the Day of National Unity, which we have celebrated the second time on November 4. The reasons for the appearance of the latter are as clear as its ideology is dark: it was necessary to create a new "Red Calendar Day" in exchange for November 7th. The Kremlin’s liberation from the Poles turned up here very by the way - and the reason is good, and before only three days.

For the overwhelming part of citizens, this holiday does not matter: today there are few relatives (more precisely, family memory of such ancestors) who took part in a memorable event, with Poland we have quite peaceful relations (cognizance, the events of which have recently turned half a century, today is the far from the freakman as all the False Dmitry), and no one is preparing from the Kremlin? Muscovites, of course, remember Martos’s monument - probably they had drank for this textbook picture.

In fact, it has long been a day of the Kazan Icon of the Mother of God, which, as you know, was celebrated, its intercession during the Time of Troubles: she was in the Minin and Pozharsky militia when they freed Moscow. So for the people of the Orthodox, this holiday is real.

The secular part of the festival cannot be “real” also by virtue of its age: a tradition that goes directly from a recent important event should be behind the rooted holiday, and the Day of National Unity was established only in 2005.

Not many people remember what this holiday is exactly called. Often it is called the day of not folk, but national unity - some by chance, others are fundamentally. Here, this last, fundamental, was focused on the general attention of November 4 and in the days that preceded it.

In 2005, the Russian March was held, which gathered about four thousand people and caused many scandals and gossip due to the presence of the Nazis there. In fact, the “Russian March 2005” has become a launching pad for the rapid take -off of the DPNI (a year ago not as famous as today), and the prospect of the march this year exacerbated the already nervous reactions to Kondopoga events. One of the slogans declared by the organizers, by the way, was Kondopoga - Hero City.

It should be recognized that the organizers of the “Russian march 2006”, and above all this is precisely the DPNI, managed to intimidate many and absolutely all - confuse. Several times applications for the march - invariably rejected. The Orthodox part of the organizers refused to participate in it. Luzhkov promised that there would be no march. The organizers rubbed their hands: well, then, they say, we will gather in the subway, you will be worse! And they developed a whole leadership - how, when and where the participants appear in the subway. Journalists began to guess how brutally these attempts would be crushed, whether provocations will happen, even how many random victims would be. The rest - including the media - called for refraining from trips along the ring line, because it is supposedly dangerous.

Quite unexpectedly and at the last moment, it was decided to join the permitted rally of the Popular Volya party on the girl's field?

... and came the fourth of November.

First, at the monument to Karl Marx, the Communists rally. True, the leadership of the Communist Party of the Communist Party did not appear on this action, so about twenty people with different posters looked more funny than frightening. However, the Communists probably gained strength in front of the seventh number: the electorate usually gets tired of them quickly and not every pensioner can withstand two rallies in one week.

At this time, the deputies of the State Duma almost homelessly wandered along the ring line of the metro, until Dmitry Rogozin left the escalator at half -past five at the Belorusskaya station. Smiling into the lenses, he called to protect the journalists and not to break their cameras, sat in the subway car, surrounded by a whole ring of representatives of the press and young nationalists, and drove into the Komsomolskaya, gathering along the path of supporters. Like Napoleon, who returned from the Elbe. Looking at how photographers fight for a successful frame, you begin to be afraid of them even more than young shaved guys in checkered caps.

Mobile communications were disabled in the subway - clearly for a reason.

All the audience together went to the "Park of Culture". Immediately at the exit from the station, people were met by friendly riot police, dressed in the last police fashion, who carefully searched everyone - they even checked books (suddenly extremist?). True, the law enforcement officers were caught up so much that everyone was not enough for everyday life, vests, vests and stumps, like a beautiful city camouflage. Therefore, the two most gloomy riot police flaunted in swamp jackets and peered suspicious elements in the crowd. Elements with peppy crowds moved along a living riot police.

The rally began almost on time, patriotic music fell silent, speakers appeared on the rostrum. Sergey Baburin seasoned everyone - he probably did not allow Rogozin to speak and accidentally broke the microphone. Many people crowded behind the fence, slowly going through metal detectors, so it’s not very clear whether to consider them to the march. In general, there were more than a thousand people around the monument to Tolstoy. If you count the police - twice as much.

It makes no sense to retell the speakers - in general, they all said almost the same thing. Mr. Baburin asked for politely to everyone who came to the rally, including foreign correspondents (here, probably the journalist of the Arab TV channel was delighted), refrain from the "Roman greeting", and try to come up with something of their own, Russian, because there are so many correspondents around, and all of them are just eager to write about those gathered. Really, if there weren’t the media there, he himself would throw up his right hand?

It is significant that there was no unity, folk, national, political, and even the colors of the imperial flag were located on banners in different sequences. The role of flagpole was played by fishing rods - symbolic evidence that someone was going to "catch a fish in muddy water." There was a rather large support group of Colonel Kvachkov, it was proposed to immediately release. The eldest by rank, General Albert Makashov, generally stated that the Russians are “everyone who lives in Russia” (it is interesting what Mr. Belov thought here). Of the Russians, the general deleted only "those that are gathering today in Bolotnaya Square." This is probably the place of such an enchanted: I stepped - to be Russians to be Russians.

Megaphone was weakly heard in the wind (the microphone turned off), so that some young people complained, they say, they “didn’t listen here, but to fight,” others pulled to the classics, and they climbed onto the stone knees of Lev Nikolayevich Tolstoy, who was indifferently leaving at his feet. There would be to recall the Pushkin Don Juan! But nothing happened resolutely, the earth did not open, absorbing "Rus' and non -Russia." In the end, Alexander Belov took the megaphone, climbed onto the truck (remember Lenin in the square near the Finland station?), Was a pure, but non -literary Russian language and led his supporters to the subway. So the march was still: poorly, small, along the rows of riot police, but formally it took place - the crowd went and chanted what Belov would ask. The rally ended without special incidents, riot police scored two hundred with something detainees before his beginning, on which he calmed down.

The rally of "Orthodox borelosets" dedicated to the holiday of the icon of the Kazan Mother of God and organized by the Union "Christian Renaissance" was completely different at the Slavic Square. Perhaps this was the most beautiful and magnificent event from those who held in Moscow on November 4. Around the monument to Cyril and Methodius, who literally hung the words "Glory to Christ! Death to the Antichrist!", Majestic crosses and banners were established. Beautiful! Having kneeling, many prayed to the image of the Kazan Mother of God, so everyone tried to behave quietly, and even journalists almost did not get their mobile.

Then, of course, much more people came, some came from the Maiden Field (Baburin and Kuryanovich, for example), a rally began, and everything happened more or less usually.

If on the girl’s field you could see an icon with the image of Kvachkov, then on Slavyanskaya Square, on the left hand from Methodius, a banner with Igor Talkov flaunted.

There was no riot police at all, they guarded the "Orthodoxy or death!" (as the sticker in the subway read) combatants, the police and a specially invited all -impact army Don - so that everything could only end safely.

At the same time, another - fourth - side gathered in Bolotnaya Square: under the gaze of the artist Repin, a rally organized by two anti -fascist fronts was held: left and Russian. The vigilant riot police searched every one who entered the square, young people younger than twenty tried not to let go, so many anti -fascists could not get to their own rally. Similar "oddities" of the organizers can be explained by the fact that on the eve of different people threatened to disrupt the rally with the help of provocateurs that were clinging into the crowd. The latter were found almost immediately, they were not hiding too diligently.

Speech flowed in a turn, as a deafening "glory of Russia!" And riot police, anti -fascists and journalists ran towards a small crowd. After a few meters, the journalists were already ahead of the riot police unfolding into the battle formations and, clicking the curtains of cameras, began to get to the Nazi, recalling one of the first biologists. But OMON did not let the best photographs with the best photographs, dispersed the crowd, locked most of the lane and detained many (random people fell into their number).

The organizers of the rally spoke many smooth, beautiful and rehearsed words. Asked rhetorical questions. Perhaps they miscalculated only in one thing: on the fourth of November, winter came to Moscow. Frosty steam was swirling in the air, but the organizers tried to use the time allotted by the mayor's member as possible, and therefore speech poured in an endless stream for two hours. The possibilities of leaving the rally, in fact, were not, somewhere nearby, evil football fans in checkered caps roamed and waited for potential anti-fascists for a short dispute. These are all, of course, empty fears.

About a thousand people gathered to Bolotnaya Square, but the average age was distinguished from the rally participants in the girl’s field. Anti -fascism turned out to be much older, even despite the members of the AKM, who preferred to put on masks in such weather and forbade the “defense” movement to unfold Russian flags. Such is popular unity.

On the streets of Moscow and in the subway, except for a large number of law enforcement forces, no traces of the holiday were observed. There were no official festivities - was the power so frightened?

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, about 4,500 people rally in different places on this day. They were guarded by 7800 police officers. They detained about 600 people. And no unity to you: everyone in itself and everything is against each other, only the police together - together with the people who mostly do not care about the Nazis, anti -fascists, Karl Marx and the Kazan Mother of God?

If everything goes on, it will be possible to rename the holiday on the day of riot police, which, by analogy with the militia of Minin and Pozharsky, will expel the "interventionists", no matter what area they gathered.

The article is written in co -authorship with Yegor Skovoroda