Those who went to the square

Vladivostok: "On my flag it was written" ashamed and sorry "

Evgeny Diga, student, 22 years old

This is my first rally - I have never had to participate in this before. I was impressed by the Film of Navalny-before I was not particularly concerned with the politician, and I did not think that I could somehow influence it. When I saw the film, I wanted to go to the rally, get the authorities response to accusations of corruption-refutation or evidence, at least something. Ideally, I would like to see a fair investigation. If we say that it is outraged - this is "household corruption." There were several cases in my life when they asked for a bribe for something to do something efficiently.

When I found out that people talk about the same problems throughout the country, I thought it would be interesting to look at it. I could not even imagine that I would find myself in the epicenter and I would be in the forefront of the protesters. There, among like-minded people, I felt like a part of something big. I realized that I am doing a useful business, no matter how loud it sounds.

At the rally, I saw a lot of people who are not afraid to defend their position. It turned out that in Vladivostok, despite the fact that the rally was not agreed, people were not afraid. Honestly, I thought that several hundred would gather, but, according to various estimates, 1000-1500 people left in Vladivostok.

Igor Karklin, produces cleaning products for coffee machines, 26 years old

I came to the rally due to irritation. On my flag it was written "ashamed and sorry." "Why?" - They asked me during the detention. Yes, because Russia is a “developing economy”, and Slovakia is “developed”. The president is almost 20 years old, what is it like? About the cost of living of $ 100 with our number of resources, I will keep silent. The effectiveness of the authorities is scanty.

“There, among like-minded people, I felt like a part of something big. I realized that I am doing a useful business, no matter how loud it sounds "

There were a lot of young people at the rally. I almost never saw people of middle -aged - this means that maybe, if not this time, then after 20 years, exactly Russia has a chance to get up from the knees.

The past rally lasted four minutes for me. At one in the afternoon, I came with the flag, found a suitable wind, and they carefully took me, turned the flag and put me in the Bobik, brought me to the local police department. They did nothing for four hours, then they began to write a bunch of pieces of paper. A couple of times they had an educational conversation, two hours later I was free with the protocol about the presence at the illegal rally. After the detention, almost all protesters, about 800 people, approached the police building.

Alexander Shestakov, cook, 28 years old

I work as a cook, I have nothing to do with politics. I decided to go to the rally, like thousands of others, to get answers to questions that appeared to the Prime Minister and the government. The issue of corruption is very acute, this applies to absolutely everyone. Almost absent health care, incomprehensible taxes, a politicized education system. People pay constantly, more and more, and the standard of living does not grow.

Yes, I support Alexei Navalny. But one cannot talk about past rallies as exclusively about a political phenomenon. They were indifferent people with different political views, of different ages and gender. Now pro -government media are very fond of talking about "schoolchildren" who were bought or came in the hope of getting € 10 thousand in case of detention, but this is not so. The schoolchildren were not a prevailing number, and they did not go for the sake of money. They just want answers just like everyone else. The same schools where they study are constantly raising money from parents for various needs, whether it is repairs, protection or something else. And since corruption is everywhere, this is served as the norm.

Rallies on March 26 showed that there are a lot of people who do not spit. They want answers, and this seems natural in the realities of the modern world, but not to Russia. I think everything should change in the future. The main thing is to stop treating us as people who should endure.

Yekaterinburg: "We do what the elders did not do"

Ekaterina Kuznetsova, student, 21 years old

We are tired of corruption. From the fact that there is no medicine, education, there is no development. Several times I was in a situation where it was clearly felt that the money had gone somewhere, but certainly not for medical equipment and not for the salary of doctors. At my university, they pay little to teachers. Of course, they lead couples, but they don’t really want to do it. They tell us that there is their salary, and there is a rector who, in fact, is a millionaire. He has a daughter in London and a two -story apartment in an elite house. And yes, in the hostel in which I live, there was no repair for a long time, once the ceiling collapsed there. There is another hostel that cannot be used at all, but students live in it.

Matvey Kuchevasov, student, 18 years old

The most important thing is that this rally was for us. It will not illuminate it and will not go on changes, but we went out and met with each other. How much was there in Yekaterinburg? Three thousand, five? I think that everyone who came out changed because they saw that they were not alone and that we would come out again. Although it previously seemed that in Yekaterinburg and other non -metic cities there was no protest activity at all.

I am not a fan of Navalny, I am not a liberal, although I like what they do in the Fund for the fight against corruption. Now everyone who does not agree with the actions of the authorities is important to create a common opposition. Who, if not us, and when, if not now? We do what the elders did not do.

I adhere to anarchic views, and the only thing that is good in power is its replacement. On weekends, we took a small step towards replaceability, to self -government, and real democracy.

Mikhail, student, 19 years old

I am not a convinced supporter of Alexei Navalny. He went to the rally because, firstly, he looked at his investigation. Secondly, because the honor of a citizen must be protected: it is necessary to defend your rights and demand the answers to such a sensational investigation. My duty as a citizen is to put pressure on power in order to achieve a social benefit, but, of course, democratic methods permitted by the Constitution.

I saw people of different ages at a rally. Young people, yes, prevailed, there were many people from 16 to 25 years old. Although there were also mature men with burning eyes, and grandmothers, wise with experience, who sometimes lit a crowd. Obviously, representatives of all ages were present at the rally.

“It turns out that ordinary people pay taxes, should tighten the belts more tightly, starve and suffer unknown how much, but the crisis does not affect at all”

Makhachkala: "Not for Navalny, but for justice"

Vsevolod Zhuravlev, web designer, 25 years old

(I came to Makhachkala from Belarus and is going to stay here to live here)

Officially, I do not belong to any party, but ideologically, so to speak, moderate left.

The organizers of the rally in Makhachkala were detained the day before the promotion ... in vain they met there, on the boulevard. After that, fewer people decided to go, before that there were more people who wanted to go out. But there was little information. I think that if there were more, then there would have come more people.

Once being detained in Belarus at a rally in 2011-2012. Then I also spent the night in the isolator. They treated us like prisoners: they were rude, twisted their hands behind their backs ... In the Makhachkalinsky District Department of Internal Affairs, this was not the case, but they crushed me morally.

I know little about Navalny as a leader, but when I watched his investigations, he seemed convincing and honest to me. Although various stories go on the Internet that he, they say, is a person with questions. Therefore, I did not go for Navalny, but for demanding answers to the questions that he poses. By the way, many protesters say so: what kind of Navalny they went, but for justice. Although Navalny is personally closer to me than many other politicians. Because other politicians - they lived with their old school in the Soviet Union. Still, they are part of the old system. And Navalny is young and with new ideas.

Olga Chrash, student, 21 years old

I am not indifferent to the fate of my country. The access to the rally still had to draw attention to the investigation of the case (about corruption schemes with the participation of Dmitry Medvedev.-NT). There was a Navalny film, and it very clearly explains how Medvedev stole, all his schemes ... And the most amazing one - the authorities do not give any answers, laughs people in the face. At first I wanted to go to a single picket, and then I found out that they were going to organize a rally in Makhachkala and decided to join.

This is my first rally. Before that, I was a sofa analyst and an Internet beetle. Even my mother often said: “You say a lot, but you don’t go out into the street.” And I told my mother that I was going to the rally, she answered simply: "Well, come out." I did not even tell my father, because he is a Posoputinets.

Everyone in the country knows about corruption, and even the corrupt officials themselves do not hide this, mock people, spit in our face, and we wipe away. There is no more strength. I learned that on March 26, rallies would be held throughout the country, and I thought that this would not happen in Makhachkala. Underestimated Makhachkala. I decided to go to a single picket with a poster. I read all the rules of a single picket.

I am trying to explain to everyone that it was a rally against corruption, and not for Navalny. And at the rally there was not a single slogan for Navalny. Although I like him. Judging by what I saw, it seems honest to me. But maybe it seems to me. I often hear that he is a nationalist, and some are surprised at how it was in Dagestan for Navalny. But in his speeches, on the contrary, I heard that it doesn’t matter which side you adhere to, left or right in which region you live, this is a common problem - corruption in the country.

"On weekends, we took a small step towards replaceability, to self -government, real democracy"

Zhust Omarov, cook, 27 years old

I do not relate myself to any political party. I went on my own. They told me that I was "paid." I am not "paid". I went out like an ordinary citizen. Our people have already been intimidated by the fact that, they say, law enforcement agencies, law enforcement agencies follow everyone - people are simply afraid to go to such rallies.

We have total corruption in our country. And in Dagestan - especially. If they steal somewhere, they steal even more. Half a million Dagestanis live outside the republic. And this outflow continues. It makes no sense to return here to those who have the opportunity to live elsewhere. Unless come to visit.

Russia now lives in external pressure, economic sanctions. The standard of living is falling. In the film Navalny, Medvedev’s palaces, vineyards, yachts are shown. It turns out that ordinary people pay taxes, should tighten the belts more tightly, starve and suffer unknown how much, but the crisis does not affect at all ...

We want the money that should be spent on the population to be spent as intended - on the construction of roads, clinics, schools, kindergartens, so that there is normal medical care. And they should not enrich our officials and their relatives.

I do not understand those in our republic who say that we allegedly went "for Navalny." They say that he, they say, “Nazi”, “such and said about the North Caucasus” ... Navalny has nothing against ordinary Caucasians, Dagestanis. Well, maybe he said something that could not please everyone, but he had in mind our gangster structures that do not allow people to live normally. I like that Navalny is fighting corruption. Next year I will vote for him.

St. Petersburg: "I was born in 1997 and did not see a single normal presidential campaign in Russia"

Andrey, student, 19 years old

I participated in rallies in defense of Isaac, in others, I was generally interested in politics since childhood, followed the events in Bolotnaya and in 2011,
And in 2012, although he was still a schoolboy. I wonder how many things work in the protest movement-I went to the headquarters of Navalny, although I can’t say that I support him very much, we still have different views with him. I went to the rally on March 26, because I thought it would affect life, and although I saw a lot of rallies that ended only with the most twisting of the nuts, I still think that it is very important to go outside. The fight against corruption is serious, even if someone's ambitions are behind it. Because the internal problems of Russia in public space are often bypassed, as if they want to distract attention from them, and corruption is a consequence of the deeper problems of all government structures, and it is necessary, on the contrary, to attract attention. And I am very interested in observing and even participating in how Navalny and his headquarters lead my campaigns: I was born in 1997 and did not see a single normal presidential campaign in Russia, and I am very interested to observe how Navalny does it.

Vlad, student, 21 years old

My friends and I went in order to show our peers who remained at home, that there are people who are not indifferent and there are people who are ready to achieve changes. Because when you hear from adults that “you can’t change anything” and “let everything be as it will be”, this is understandable - they have lived life and do not wait for anything. But when you hear the same from young people, it becomes embarrassed - you live with these people, and they tied up so early. Therefore, we went.

Yuri, student, 21

I joined Nevsky to the procession, reached the Square of the uprising, and there they began to pull us out: they threw us in a car gut, an hour and a half a car carrier stood in front of the police station, they did not let anyone out of it. They made protocols for a very long time and did not give copies for a long time, as a result I returned home at night. The police themselves behaved politely, they said so - we do not need you, especially on a weekend. If one of the detainees demanded lawyers, then the police began to be sarcasty. But the employees of the EE Center openly rude, rude, threatened: they demanded to name friends, intimidated - we will fall into lists, then not to see the civil service, there will be problems with the military department. They said: the first time we just write you down, and the second time - fines and troubles at the university. Friends are already joking - we’ll throw ourselves up for a fine!

“Employees of the EE Center openly rude, rude, threatened: they demanded to name friends, intimidated - you will fall into lists, then not to see the civil service, there will be problems with the military department”

Corruption is a very sore topic, but not even a lot of money is annoyed, but what they are spent on. When it goes in such a stream, when they steal, steal, and spent on sneakers, on dogs, the question arises: are these people who rule our country adequate? We have the next year elected, and I would go to vote for Navalny. And for whom else? For Yavlinsky and Zhirinovsky? Or again for Putin? We came out against this - against the fact that we have no choice.

Rostov-on-Don: “Our youth is already radicalized without Navalny’s films, they want to change something right now and by any means”

Alexander Bannikov, civil activist, one of the organizers of the action, 25 years:

I brought me a summons home (to draw up a protocol about participation in an illegal action. - NT) brought the district police officer, and the next day the lawyer and I went to the station. They didn’t want to let my lawyer immediately, but he threatened the prosecutor’s office with a complaint, and they surrendered. The officer who made the protocol was in civilian clothes, behaved calmly. I just reminded him that he should act according to the law. After all, the very fact that the protocol was drawn up more than two days after the event was already a violation. Not to mention the fact that the rally itself could not be called unauthorized: I submitted an application to the city administration and agreed if the place was already busy, revise the place and time of the action. But the municipality did not do this, that is, from the point of view of the law, no one forbade us to conduct a rally. However, the court still considered the rally illegal and made me a fine of 15 thousand rubles.

There were a lot of young people at the rally. Why? They want real actions. And this, by the way, is a huge problem. Our youth is already radicalized without Navalny’s films, they want to change something right now and by any means. At the rally, I saw: find a provocateur who would call them to go to smash the windows and so on - there would be trouble. Therefore, our actions were largely aimed at stopping these young people, reassuring them, explaining that changes should occur gradually, that there should be systemic changes. In my opinion, we succeeded.

Recorded: Daria Mikolachuk, Vladivostok, Aida Mirmaksumova, Makhachkala, Vladislav Gorin, Yekaterinburg, Natalya Shkurok, St. Petersburg, Elena Romanova, Rostov-on-Don

Photo: from the archive of Igor Karklin, Vladislav Lonshakov/Kommersant, Vladimir Sevrinovsky, from the archive of Alexander Bannikov, Valya Egorshin/Nurphoto/Sipa USA/East News