Translated material
Protest performances. November 2005
Svetlana Kovaleva, Demos Center
Fascists and anti-fascists
was held in Moscow On November 4, a march of right-wing radical organizations , authorized by the Moscow government at the request of the Eurasian Youth Union and a "group of private individuals." About three thousand people took part in the procession (a significant part of the extras were skinheads and representatives of the DPNI).
The reaction to the march was anti-fascist protests in Moscow and the regions.
The question of the attitude of the authorities to this kind of rally activity of citizens became a key topic for discussion in the media in November.
The sharpness of the discussion was given by the ban by the prefecture of the Central Administrative District on November 23 of the rally "Against the connivance of the authorities with fascism in Moscow", an application for which was submitted by representatives of liberal parties and human rights activists. On November 27, despite the ban, the protesters still tried to hold an event on Tverskaya Square in front of the mayor's office. The police cleared the square of the protesters within 10 minutes.
On November 30, in the Tverskoy Court of Moscow, 4 verdicts were passed in the "case of anti-fascists" (these are Alexander Gorelov, Alexander Ryklin (co-chairman of the UCF), Mikhail Krieger and Alexei Bogdantsev). For unauthorized picketing of the mayor's office, all four were sentenced to a fine of 1,000 rubles.
On November 27, in Tyumen, in order to express solidarity with Moscow anti-fascists and in protest against the march of nationalists in Moscow, which took place on November 4 under the slogans against people from the Caucasus and other ethnic minorities, the action "Fascist power shuts our mouths" took place . The action was initiated by the website to rally in memory of Galina Starovoitova , who was killed 7 years ago. The rally was organized by the movement "For Human Rights" together with "Democratic Russia" to protest against chauvinism, xenophobia and fascism.
About 300 people took part in the anti-fascist March against Hate , which took place on November 6 in St. Petersburg.
Meetings and farewells of the Kremlin officials
Actions were held in two regions of Russia in November to draw the attention of Moscow officials who arrived in the region to the social problems of the region. At the same time, more radical slogans were voiced.
On November 23, about 50 residents of the military camp in Yekaterinburg - members of the families of retired military personnel - held a picket on the day of the arrival of Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation Sergei Ivanov.
The protesters demanded to solve the problem of closed military camps in order to be able to privatize housing.
On November 29, activists of the protest movement tried to break through to the residence of the President of the Udmurt Republic, where Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov arrived on a working visit.
The picketers held banners: "Fradkov, can't you? - Leave your post!", "Officials and the rich - hands off gardens!", "Thousands of gardeners against 100 officials!", "Pensions in full!", "Hands off education! ".
November 7 in Izhevsk during a demonstration in which the Communists, the Public Council of Pensioners (OSP UR), Autonomous Action-Izhevsk and the Movement "Schoolchildren Against Education Reform" took part. Autonomous Action activists joined the procession, holding up a cardboard poster depicting a student showing a fig to Putin, Fursenko and Fradkov; banner "There is no God, but there is Putin!" and other posters and banners. They chanted: "Putin - resign, allowance for scholarships!", "Pensioner, student, worker - let's kill Putin together!" "One, two, three - Putin must leave, four, five, six - Putin must sit down!", "Pensioners and youth - apartments, Putin with food - toilets!"
At some point in the ranks of the demonstrators was seen "a man similar to" the Minister of Science and Education Fursenko. He was captured and chained by the Youth Tribunal. To the cries of "Hurrah, we caught the minister!" a man was brought to the forefront of the column.
Rallies against the war in Chechnya
On the eve of the elections in Chechnya, rallies were held in three Russian cities demanding to stop the war in the republic and "for fair elections."
On November 24 at Pushkin Square in Moscow, the Anti-War Actions Committee held another picket against the war in Chechnya. The picketers stood on the sidewalk in front of Novopushkinsky Square under the Russian flag with a mourning ribbon tied as a sign of mourning for the civilians and Russian servicemen who died in the North Caucasus. During the action, signatures were collected for the release of the body of Chechen separatist leader Aslan Maskhadov, who was killed in March, to his relatives.
November 26, activists of the youth organization of the party "Yabloko" in the framework of the all-Russian action "Yabloko" "Honest elections in Chechnya - the end of the war!" held a picket in Samara against the war in Chechnya and for free parliamentary elections in the republic.
On November 27, a rally was held in St. Petersburg . Its participants handed out anti-war leaflets and little men made of paper to passers-by. They say: "I grew up in Chechnya, they killed me for this. Stop the war."
Protest movement in Chechnya
In November, the protest movement intensified on the territory of Chechnya itself. Officials of the republican administration openly declare this. "We can hardly contain the emotions of the local population. We are trying to resolve the situation, but the lack of clear explanations from the military does not contribute to this," said November 19. Nurdi Nukhazhiev, head of the Chechen President's department for ensuring the constitutional rights of Russian citizens living in Chechnya,
On November 17 and 18, 2005, a protest rally was held in Grozny in front of the Government House of Chechnya , in which about 200 people took part. The main demand of the protesters is the payment of monetary compensation for housing destroyed during the hostilities.
On November 17 the public transport drivers of Grozny did not show up for work . They held a rally at which they demanded that the Chechen authorities stop the arbitrariness on the part of law enforcement officers and provide them with normal working conditions.
On November 21, residents of the village of Staraya Sunzha in the Grozny region and two settlements in the Kurchaloy region held meetings demanding that all those responsible for the shooting of three local residents be found and punished.
On November 24, 2005, in Grozny, in front of the entrance to the complex of government buildings, a picket was held demanding the release of Ramzan Aduyev, a 5th-year student of the Grozny Oil Institute, who was kidnapped on November 22, 2005.
Failed protests
In addition to those already mentioned above, the following protests were dispersed in November.
On November 15, the picket participants were detained by the police near the building of the Constitutional Court of Russia. The protesters demanded the return of direct elections of heads of regions.
In November, the practice of prosecuting citizens for holding unsanctioned protests expanded.
On November 9, the Tverskoy Court held a hearing on the cassation appeal of the residents of the Tagansky District to find them guilty of holding an unsanctioned rally near the Moscow Mayor's Office on September 28, 2005. On that day, 7 members of the initiative group of residents of the Tagansky district, protesting against illegal construction in the park in the household 3 on the street. Taganskaya, with the support of several members of the AKM, unfurled posters protesting against illegal construction, chained themselves to the fence of the City Hall building and scattered leaflets.
was held On November 23, before the beginning of the State Duma session, where the law on NGOs was adopted, an unsanctioned picket of activists who wanted to defend the right of public organizations to exist . The rally was quickly dispersed. As a result, three young people were subjected to administrative arrest for 3 days, and two girls were fined 1,000 rubles.
FSB against protest actions
In November, it became known about another way to put pressure on the participants in the protest movement.
On November 25, security officers of the Irkutsk Aluminum Plant detained trade union activist Alexander Kolyvanov, who was distributing the Shelekhovsky Rabochiy newspaper, published by activists of the Shelekhov branch of the Siberian Confederation of Labor and the Autonomous Action movement.
Kolyvanov was accused of distributing the Shelekhovsky Rabochiy newspaper at the plant and offered to name other workers involved in distributing the newspaper and those involved in syndicalist (anarchist) activities in Shelekhov and Irkutsk. After exerting pressure ("...think about the family, now the FSB will come and shut you up..."), Alexander admitted that he had indeed distributed the newspaper among his colleagues and signed the protocol.