Protest horn

Motorists once again reminded the authorities of their dissatisfaction

Mass protests by Russian motorists, which have already become traditional, have revealed a number of patterns. For example, the further you go to the east of the country, the more numerous the actions are - Vladivostok always turns out to be the most civically active city. In the capitals, on the contrary, there are not so many car owners who want to express their dissatisfaction with customs duties or new technical regulations. The all-Russian protest that took place last Saturday under the auspices of the Federation of Car Owners of Russia (FAR) was no exception.

Perhaps the most serious event took place in Vladivostok, where about 1.5 thousand people gathered on the station square near the Lenin monument. This time the rally was authorized, so clashes between motorists and the police were avoided. However, according to eyewitnesses, several buses with riot policemen were on duty near the square “just in case.” The only incident occurred when one of the drivers passing by honked his horn as a sign of solidarity with the rally participants. Traffic police officers tried to detain the motorist, but after the protesters showed increased interest in what was happening, the traffic cops retreated. The organizer of the Vladivostok action was the regional branch of the Partnership of Initiative Citizens of Russia (TIGR), but local communists also showed great interest in the event - for example, the first secretary of the Vladivostok City Committee of the Communist Party of the Russian Federation, deputy of the Primorsky Regional Legislative Assembly, Vladimir Bespalov, volunteered to support the motorists.

Members of the Communist Party faction of the regional parliament also took part in the procession organized by TIGER in Novosibirsk. At a press conference organized on the eve of the action, the communists criticized the increase in transport taxes and did not fail to remind activists of the local automobile community that they had supported them during the campaign for the release of Oleg Shcherbinsky. In Kemerovo, after the city administration canceled the previously issued permission to hold the rally, it was decided to hold the event in the format of a meeting of voters with State Duma deputy from the Communist Party of the Russian Federation Nina Ostanina.

In Rostov-on-Don, the organizers of the action themselves decided to abandon the rally. However, not all activists of the local branch of the FAR agreed with this decision - they tried to organize a car rally, which was stopped by the traffic police. But in Belgorod, according to local motorists, the unauthorized run went without any difficulties. According to the FAR, protests also took place (and “traveled”) in Kaliningrad, Arkhangelsk, Kaluga, Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Tyumen, Omsk, Novokuznetsk, Krasnoyarsk, Khabarovsk and some other large cities.

In the northern capital, about 500 people gathered at the rally at the Petersburg Sports and Concert Complex, according to the most optimistic estimates. “These are mainly car owners, representatives of public organizations, car clubs, garage cooperatives,” said one of the organizers of the St. Petersburg action, Vitaly Egorov. In Moscow, a rally organized by the FAR at the Ulitsa 1905 metro station brought together about 100 (or, according to the organizers of the event, approximately three hundred) participants. At the end of the rally, its organizer, head of the Moscow branch of the FAR, Sergei Kanaev, was detained by the police. According to Mr. Kanaev, after a preventive conversation at the Presnensky police station, he was released. In addition, according to representatives of the capital branch of the Federation of Car Owners, participants in the protest held a motor rally along the Garden Ring. “The traffic police officers, of whom there are a lot here, are trying to oppose our car rally, but this only leads to a stop in traffic on the road,” one of the participants in this rally, FAR activist Dmitry Samarin, told the Interfax agency.

The slogans and demands of the participants in the all-Russian action were, as a rule, similar: car owners were mainly against increasing the transport tax and for revising the recently adopted technical regulations “On the safety of wheeled vehicles.” Thus, according to the participants of the rally in Vladivostok, the technical regulations require “the most serious adjustments taking into account the current legislation, taking into account Russian realities and the opinions of the widest possible range of practicing motor transport workers, industry science, and automobile public organizations.” In their resolution, Primorye motorists demanded the abolition of government regulations on increasing import customs duties on foreign cars - starting with the 2006 resolution and ending with the document dated October 9 of this year, extending the validity of duty rates. Drivers also demanded to completely abolish the transport tax, limit excise taxes on fuel to the current level and redirect 50% of the excise tax on fuel to the budgets of the regions in which the fuel is sold. In addition, according to the participants of the action, an investigation should be carried out into the reasons for the high cost of fuel on the domestic market in order to identify a cartel agreement among producers. The open letter to President Medvedev, which was distributed by representatives of the FAR, also contained, among other things, a demand for “reforming the traffic police in order to eradicate corruption, ensure safety and equal rights for road users.”

“Public actions like those that took place on Saturday can be effective only in one case: if they are followed by practical results, if the speeches have political consequences,” commenting on the results of the car owners’ speech, he noted in a conversation with a Vremya Novostey correspondent » leader of the Russian Motorists Movement (DAR) Viktor Pokhmelkin. Until motorists begin to manifest themselves as a consolidated political force, including a force capable of voting against the party in power, their opinion will be ignored, Mr. Pokhmelkin notes. “As an analogy, we can cite the speeches of pensioners against the monetization of benefits. The authorities eventually met them halfway, realizing that pensioners are a politicized, actively voting part of the electorate,” emphasizes the DAR leader. Motorists, in his opinion, are still politically passive. However, this social group, which includes young and financially secure people, has great potential - the interest shown by the opposition parties in the needs of the automobile community is very indicative.

Mikhail MOSHKIN