"As we are rally and we will"

A new amendment has appeared in the bill on rallies, approved by the Constitutional Committee of the State Duma for the second reading. Now, a fine of up to 300,000 rubles can be assigned to “preliminary agitation or calls for the simultaneous mass stay” on social networks on the Internet.

PublicPost asked the most famous activists of civil protest whether they will continue to invite people to rallies on the Internet, whether they are ready to pay a fine and what they think about the new bill.

Olga Romanova, journalist, civil activist:

Of course, I will continue to agitate, because I do not recognize the legitimacy of the Duma. I also do not recognize the legitimacy of this law. I do not consider deputies people who have the right to adopt laws and tell us how to live. In Russia, there is not a single legitimate institution of power, except for the Institute of Friends of the President. I am not in the president’s friends. I will not pay a fine, I will not come to court either. I do not recognize the legitimacy of the court, I know him too well.

Dmitry Gudkov, deputy of the State Duma from the Fair Russia party:

This is an anti -constitutional norm, because I can talk about my plans anywhere and as you like. Of course, I will disseminate the information. We will not be agitated, but to report what plans we have.

If a fine is awarded, then opposition to the federal level of the type of Navalny and Udaltsov will be able to turn to Yandex-Koshelka. But we must understand that this law will hit primarily to ordinary citizens. Therefore, we will fight for the right of ordinary citizens to rally according to the law prescribed in the Constitution.

We do not have a legal state, they can interpret any information in favor of the authorities. But in this law there are a lot of amendments, which turn the country into one large auto -zak, into a country of debtors. This law will allow any Evsyukov to do anything with citizens. This will end with the fact that the protest will become more radical, the partisan region will appear. Sooner or later, there will be many citizens on the streets of Moscow and other cities, who will simply be ruined, property will be arrested and a disaster will make.

We will insist on the Italian strike. We still plan to apply to the Constitutional Court. We will fight to the end, because it is a terrible law that moves us towards eastern tyranny.

I do not exclude that public opinion will be able to influence the decision of the president and he will impose a veto on this bill. If public opinion is terribly critical about this law, the authorities will be forced to make concessions.

Danila Lindel, spokeswoman for the State Duma deputy from Fair Russia Ilya Ponomarev:

I think that all adequate people will ignore this and do everything so that this norm is canceled. If I am fined, then we will throw ourselves up with the whole world and pay this fine.

The bill has adequate things like a ban on masks and responsibility of officials for violations. But the principle of the ban on “more than three is not to gather” suggests that they were completely stuck there. Welcome to Belarus and North Korea.

Peter Shkumatov, Coordinator of the Blue Bucket movement:

I think that agitation will turn into conditional forms: either it will be anonymous agitation, or from the series "Do not come to the rally", but people will understand everything. If they say they pay a fine, they are afraid of wolves - do not go to the forest. The bill should have been discussed with the public, with activists, and invite everyone. Since they adopt this bill between the bomb, the reaction will receive the appropriate.

Nikolai Levshitz, civilian activist:

Of course, I will continue to agitate, this is not discussed. In addition, there are always bypass paths. To agate from fake accounts as an option. Or on your own behalf to call friends and acquaintances to meet in a certain place. Nobody can ban this to me. As for the fine - if the court awards, I will pay where to go.

Oleg Kozyrev, screenwriter, blogger:

Of course, I will continue to disseminate the information further. My only means of protest against dragon methods and these amendments about fines is not to be afraid to do what you consider correct. If I am fined, I will look at the situation. I have not yet decided how to act correctly. In any case, I will protest already about the fine. It is inconceivable to change the right lifestyle only because someone decided to fine for this correct lifestyle.

The bill on rallies at rallies is a form of panic repression, an attempt to intimidate the fines. It is quite stupid to scare the fines if people were not afraid of riot police batons. A fine is not the worst punishment that can be obtained.