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The Moscow City Duma called on citizens not to hold rallies on National Unity Day
Russians have not yet gotten used to replacing the anniversary of the October Revolution in the calendar with a new national holiday - November 4, but the artificially recreated Day of National Unity has already acquired a bad reputation. For the second year in a row, nationalist movements are trying to use it to organize their marches in the capital. Taught by the scandalous march of the right last year, Moscow authorities officially banned mass political rallies on the weekend. But this was not enough for Moscow City Duma deputies, and yesterday they appealed to Muscovites not to participate in events not related to the holiday, and asked nationalists not to try to use November 4 “to incite nationalistic and xenophobic sentiments that are alien to the history and culture of the peoples of Russia.”City deputies decided to remind residents of the capital that last year they darkened the holiday, “designed to symbolize the harmony and unity of a multinational people,” representatives of far-right nationalist organizations “without any grounds, claim to express the will and interests” of Russian citizens. And they called on Muscovites to boycott such events. “We appeal to all residents of our multinational city,” the appeal says, “to all who value the present and future of Russia, with a call to refrain from participating in any actions objectively aimed at aggravating the social situation in Moscow and directly harming damage to the genuine interests of Russia and its peoples.”
Let us recall that last year on November 4, about three thousand people, among whom several demonstrators with Nazi and fascist symbols were seen, staged a “Russian March” in Moscow from Chistoprudny Boulevard to Slavyanskaya Square under nationalist slogans. This year, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) tried to organize a similar action called “Right March”. However, the prefecture of the Central Administrative District of the capital refused to hold a procession from Sakharov Avenue and a rally on Lubyanka Square. True, the final decision on the possibility of holding right-wing marches in the city must be made by the Moscow mayor's office. Moscow City Duma deputies noted in their address that the executive branch should not allow such manifestations of nationalism.
Moscow officials, who in principle share this position, apparently do not rule out the possibility of local actions by the ultra-right. For now, the city authorities are going to counter them with a diversionary maneuver sponsored by the Moscow government - the interethnic forum “Unity” organized by the Public Chamber on November 4, the main idea of which will be lessons in tolerance.