"March of Millions" in St. Petersburg

As you know, in St. Petersburg, the “March of Millions” was held by three different organizing committees. Two of which coordinated the processions from the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall and left with a difference of five minutes, and it seemed as if it was still a single procession without disagreements. The first column was opened by a white banner “Go out into the streets, take back your homeland!” and a man with a large drum, who beat in time with various chants. Behind them were organized groups of the "Civil Responsibility" movement, the unregistered "Other Russia" party with a banner "We need another Russia", the Communist Party of the Russian Federation with a banner "Give us a people's government!", "A Just Russia", Left Front activists and nationalists. In total, about 3,000 people took part in the procession. The second small column was organized by the “Civil Committee”, at the head of which Olga Kurnosova walked with a white ball in her hands.

At the same time, the third march, organized by Democratic Petersburg, moved from the Ploshchad Vosstaniya metro station towards the Field of Mars. His march was attended by the People's Freedom Party, the Yabloko party, the Christian Democrats organization, the Civic Initiative, the Libertarian Party, the Human Rights Council of St. Petersburg and numerous LGBT organizations, such as the LGBT Initiative, the Alliance of Heterosexuals for LGBT equality", and others.

The first march proceeded from the Oktyabrsky Concert Hall to Konyushennaya Square, where a rally was held, attended by about 1,500 people. The leaders of the rally were Elena Makushina (Other Russia) and Sergei Kuzin (Solidarity). The first speaker, Vlad Ivakhnik from the St. Petersburg “Other Russia”, in his rather “heated speech” told the protesters about political prisoners: about Taisiya Osipova and Maxim Kalinichenko, about the so-called prisoners of Manezhka and prisoners of Bolotnaya. Among the speakers were Ivan Novikov (MBA), Alexey Yarema (Gradozashchita), Ekaterina Alekseeva (RNDS), Dmitry Sukhorukov (National Democrats) and others. In conclusion, Dmitry Zhvania, leader of the DSPA, spoke. He reminded the protesters that “our country used to be proud of its powerful industry and multi-million highly qualified working class”, “we have become a country of office plankton, and this is beneficial to the system”, “without production we will lose the independence of our Motherland and therefore we must mobilize millions for this “to defend what remains of what has been created by many generations of our workers. We need a different Russia.”

At the same time, a “Democratic Petersburg” rally took place on the Champ de Mars. In addition to such speakers as Roman Grigoriev (Civil Municipal Control), Ella Polyakova (Soldiers' Mothers), Joseph Skakovsky (Solidarity) and others, Moscow leaders of various movements and organizations such as Lyudmila Alekseeva, Olga Romanova and Boris Akunin. The organizers called for the release of girls from the punk group Pussy Riot and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, and also read out an appeal from Grigory Yavlinsky, who supported the idea of ​​creating the Democratic Petersburg organizing committee. Unlike the rally on Konyushennaya, people supported the speakers, distributed numerous leaflets to each other, cheerfully shouted slogans, cheerfully picking up the sensational story about V. Putin’s flight with cranes, people willingly joked, shouting: “kurlyk - kurlyk,” and also dazzled with numerous cardboards and banners with parting words to the current president. A little further from the Eternal Flame and the speakers were people who were concerned about the protection of architectural monuments and park areas, where they could learn about city tragedies from homemade stands. In terms of numbers, the rally of the Democratic Petersburg organizing committee was not inferior to the rally on Konyushennaya. There was another action on the Champ de Mars - located a little to the right, on a small stage in the form of a truck with megaphones, representatives of the RKSMB spoke, read poetry and tried unsuccessfully to shout down the neighboring rally.

Meanwhile, Olga Kurnosova did not hold a rally and was content with the march that had just passed.