... Akunin went to the boulevard

About 20 thousand citizens took part in the “control walk” with writers. The walks said that the writers managed to gather much more people than opposition leaders Alexei Navalny and Sergey Udaltsov. The correspondent of PublicPost Evgeny Natelashvili also walked with famous writers.

The townspeople for the first time after the May holidays saw the city that they always want to see: free boulevards without numbness and fences, a polite police and courteous motorists. And this is despite the fact that people came several times more than expected. The walks went out onto the roadway - on the boulevards it became too close. One of the police officers announced to Megaphone: "Dear citizens ..." - the audience was sure that the continuation of the phrase would be "... Your procession is illegal." And he only warned about the steps - and not a word about illegality. He was answered with applause.

Sergey Parkhomenko

People smiled at each other and were surprised to talk: "It is amazing, but there were more than it was on Bolotnaya." Even despite a huge number of walking, the situation did not get out of control. At the intersections, Sergei Parkhomenko (and he went to the head of the procession) stopped the column and adjusted the movement together with the police: it was still necessary to let motorists drive. On the approach to the purebred boulevard, where the march was supposed to end at the monument to Abai Kunanbaev, the question was all the time in the crowd: "Will Abai withstand such an influx of guests?" A woman of about fifty was walking next to me, her delight knew no bounds. I ask if she saw the writer Akunin, it is impossible to find him in the crowd. “No, he will go somewhere. He will go away and go to his home. He lives here in the area of ​​pure ponds,” the fellow traveler shares with me. “Akunin arranges walks here every evening, today he called her friends, take home.”

To catch at least one of the writers, I make my way to the monument to Kunanbaev-it seems that writers will act here. But in place - only politicians Dmitry Gudkov and Ilya Yashin. To fill in the pause, the opposition talks about the everyday life of the camp. Sergei Parkhomenko finally made his way through the crowd and, like a Snow Maiden, begins to call Akunin. "A-ku-nin! A-ku-nin!" - the crowd picks up. The initiator of the procession is still not visible. So Julia Latynina came up, begins to say something. So quiet that nothing to make out. "Louder!" - the audience shout. "Where is my Ekhov microphone?" - The only thing that was heard from her. At this moment, tomatoes flew into the speakers. “They missed again!” Shouts Sergey Parkhomenko. “Please deal with them. Only without violence.”

There were so many people at the monument that it became uneasy. I get out of the crowd and try to find one of the writers. I ask the oncoming passers -by whether Dmitry Bykov caught their eyes. “He turned around and left,” one of the walks tells me. “He said that Akunin stated a walk to the monument to Griboedov. So he reached him and left.” Viktor Shenderovich passes past me in a dense ring of fans, hurries to the monument. A woman in a handkerchief calls all the Satan children gathered. "Tell me, what is your favorite writer?" - I ask a real angry townspeople. “The Apostle Luke,” the woman cuts off. "Why did you come here if you hate so much here?" - Trying to continue the conversation. "I came to the festivities, I am walking here for the third day. And I see that there are only blasphemers." The woman retired away, muttering something under her breath.

I see the writer Lyudmila Ulitskaya and go to her.

What brought you to boulevards today?

L.U.: Boris Akunin invited me to a walk, and I agreed with great pleasure. This is a very good idea. True, we were not together and not a five of them, but in the company of several thousand people, but these thousands of people were extremely pleasant, peaceful, devoid of aggression, and it was a very good day. Honestly, I thought that there would be less people.

Do you personally walk for?

L.U.: In fact, there was no special goal. It was most likely programmed by Boris Akunin, and I gladly took part in this. Today you see thousands of people, and this gives the hope that civil society is still being formed. In these months, it seems to me that it is born in Russia.

Maybe today's walk can somehow contribute to the popularization of literature?

L.U.: Honestly, I did not think about it at all ...

Well, at least the writers will be remembered in the face and will recognize?

L.U.: Then we will assume that this is good.

And what book would you advise to read these days?

L.U.: There is one book completely unsubstantiated in the country. She is famous. This book is called the "Gulag" Solzhenitsin. And so, if the country had read it in a timely manner, I think that the organization of the KGB, beloved by the people, would not be at the head of our state. Because after all, people who have read this book would make any conclusion. Therefore, I am not very seduced by the fact that the book can change public consciousness, because there was no more important, brighter, more significant book, written very timely - “The Gulag Archipelago”. It was published and sold in large circulations in the 90s in all underground crossings, but nevertheless it was not read.

Departing from Ulitskaya, I notice in the crowd of the initiator of the walk Boris Akunin. He is about to go home and agrees to answer my questions on the way.

Are you surprised by the number of those gathered?

B.A.: Surprised and very delighted. Because during these few days, while we, writers, gathered and discussed this, many people wrote to me and said: "Well, what is it. What do you arrange this good, who needs it?" It turns out that many people need it. It turns out that many Muscovites were alarming, anxiety, anger in connection with the events that we took place here on May days. People here came here not for the sake of us, not for the sake of writers. They came here for the sake of themselves. This is very important.

In fact, many people came for the sake of writers, brought volumes for autographs. Is it not like the sixties when the poets collected stadiums?

B.A.: In my opinion, no. In my opinion, the writer ceased to be a popular figure in our society and ceased to be, in general, an influential figure. Our society has ceased to be literary, which was in the 60s. I think that if this "control walk" was arranged, for example, musicians, it would have come ten times more people.

You said that it is necessary to teach the authorities to respect society, and therefore you decided to take a walk along the boulevards. It turned out?

B.A.: Judging by the fact that the police behaved like on the May holidays, maybe they already began to understand something. This is cool. Because none of the normal people wants to exacerbate the situation.

Despite the fact that the writers quickly dispersed, the walking people were in no hurry. Many wandered to the camp for the first time and was surprised to consider the charter, the schedule of events and improvement, which were created on the territory of pure ponds. “Perhaps we will stay here today,” the passers -by said.

After hard to overclock the march of millions on May 6, civil protests continue on the streets of Moscow. At the monument to Abai Kunanbaev on pure ponds, an opposition camp existed for almost a whole week, which was also dispersed by OMON employees. Protesters do not leave the streets of the city.