Mutual people's people

One person was detained for shares in support of Navalny in the center of Moscow. Reporting Sasha Sulim

In Moscow and throughout Russia, on October 7, people went in support of the founder of the corruption Fund Alexei Navalny. Protesters demanded to release a policy that was arrested on October 2 for 20 days for calls for an unauthorized action, and allowed to participate in the 2018 presidential election. The most massive shares occurred in Moscow and St. Petersburg. In the capital, the supporters of Navalny gathered on Pushkinskaya Square and even passed the procession along Tverskaya Street to the State Duma building. This is the first unauthorized action of the supporters of Navalny in Moscow, during which only one person was detained-on March 26, and about a thousand citizens detained on June 12, 2017. It is possible that the unusual indifference of the police is due to the fact that October 7, Russian President Vladimir Putin celebrates its 65th anniversary. The fact that this time was happening in the center of Moscow, says Sasha Sulim, journalist Medusa.

Mikhail and Ilya - both over 20 - met at the exit from the Pushkinskaya metro station. “They saw a group of combatants, looked at each other and realized that we were not with them,” says Mikhail Medusa. They found themselves among the first participants in the unlawed campaign in Moscow in Moscow in support of Alexei Navalny; Previously, they appeared here only “minors with ducks” (that is, young people with balloons in the form of ducks), but they soon went towards Manezhnaya Square. “How could you not come for such a holiday? After all, I wanted to congratulate the president in my own way, ”Ilya told Medusa (on October 7, Vladimir Putin turned 65).

While we chatted, two people passed by in white vests with the inscription "United Public Observation Group" ( light ). Its representatives, holding a small camera and a car first -aid kit in their hands, told Medusa that they were going to “monitor” so that human rights were “respected”. They refused further conversation, referring to employment (the light has been engaged in the monitoring of street shares for several years). In addition to them, police officers were shot on phones and cameras - and unidentified people in civilian clothes.

Soon, “minors with ducks” returned to Pushkinskaya Square-journalists surrounded their dense ring (two of them were already 18, the rest-14-15 years old). “After all, we have a democratic country, so we have the right to express our opinion,” said 18-year-old Julia “Medusa”; It was she who came up with to exit on October 7 with balloons in the form of ducks. In her backpack she had several dozens of not yet inflated balls, which she gladly handed out to everyone.

“Mom knows that I came here, she was not opposed. She only said that I would be more accurate, ”14-year-old Masha told Medusa. Her friend Maxim (the same age) said that his parents did not know: "Mom is against Navalny, so I decided not to say anything to her." "Wow! This is the second journalist who takes our interviews from us, ”Masha said to her friend Maxim with admiration immediately after we said goodbye.

About two o’clock in the afternoon - at this time the action was appointed - the space in front of Pushkin’s monument began to be filled with people; The police in a loudspeaker asked the protesters "not to interfere with the passage of other citizens." In total, from 700 people (an assessment of the Ministry of Internal Affairs) to three thousand gathered in the center of Moscow (assessment of the headquarters of Navalny); This is significantly less than two previous shares-on March 26, from seven to 25 thousand people left, June 12-five to seven thousand.

Police officers broke their voice; They were ignored. Young supporters of Navalny continued to give out interviews: 17-year-old Alexander told in the cell how tired of lawlessness and corruption of officials, and his 15-year-old girl Daria shot what was happening on the phone. Daria explained to Medusa that he and Alexander are volunteers of the Moscow headquarters of the opposition policy, but they came to Pushkinskaya on their own initiative; Staff, according to them, were not specifically called for participation in the action. “I am delighted that Sasha is being removed, I only worry so that it affects it in any way. He recently entered the institute, ”Daria said with excitement.

On Pushkinskaya, of course, there were adults. The 70-year-old Valentina Ivanovna, a woman who came from a small Ural city, told reporters with a feeling of how hard it is to live in the province now: “Everything is bad with us. One mat addressed to Putin on the periphery. So I came here to congratulate Putin on his birthday and invite him to try to live on our pension. ” The discontent of Valentina Ivanovna was supported by the 65-year-old Boris Ivanovich, who told Medusa that he was going to all protest promotions and has long been following the activities of Navalny on the Internet: “Today it will not work out, very few people have come.”

After half an hour, the turn of the slogans came (“Russia will be free!”, “Freedom to Navalny!”, “Russia without Putin!”, “Putin is a guarantor of corruption!”, “Putin - thief!”, “We are here power!” And the festive “Happy Birthday!”), Then - the Russian anthem. It was raining, but the protesters made posters-with quotes from the Constitution, another portion of congratulations to the anniversary, calls to release the founder of the FBK from arrest.

Having heard the anthem, the police again recalled that the action was “illegal”, and called on the protesters to disperse. "He wants to shout us?" Someone in the crowd asked. "I wonder when they will winger?" - reacted another. And then he received the answer: “And for what to winger? I have a flag of Russia in my hands - but I’m in Russia, and a duck - but it’s not a swastika. ” Nevertheless, the alarming expectation of detention intensified: "A little more, and that’s all." “But now they are attacked,” the man said when young people shouted “Fourth term - prison!” (Previous shares in support of Navalny in 2017 ended with mass detentions and even criminal cases).

The police continued to persuade people to disperse, this time - with the wishes of being "mutually -building"; To this they were answered: "Please do not interfere with the citizens to walk."

And a real walk began. Dozens of people went along Tverskaya towards Manezhnaya Square and the State Duma - without any opposition to the police and riot police, who carefully lined up along the road so that the protesters do not go out onto the roadway. Citizens went with posters and shouted slogans - usually at this moment they were delayed on unauthorized shares; But nothing happened. True, in the subway on Okhotnoye, exits to the Manezhnaya Square and to the State Duma turned out to be blocked. When the most peppy group of Navalny's supporters reached the transition, she rested on a few, as if hastily exhibited from 15 policemen: they clung their hands and did not allow Mokhova to go to Mokhova. Some protesters turned around and went back to Pushkinskaya Square, but already on the other side of Tverskaya.

And how was it in other cities? Not so safely: at least 260 people were detained throughout Russia.

From the porch of the Hotel Ritz Carlon, a man who walked on a mobile phone was shot by a man similar to a representative of the delegation of the king of Saudi Arabia . “Putin thief! Putin thief! " - shouted to him passing by people. “Beautiful Moscow,” the stranger ironized, not letting go of the phone’s hands.

Another group of protesters turned into Georgievsky Lane. Having rolled up the State Duma from the back, they went to the big Dmitrovka, but at the intersection with Mokhova they were stopped by the traffic police officer: the entrance to Dmitrovka was blocked by an official car. To the question of the "Medusa", whose decision it was, the employee replied: "I blocked it myself, otherwise they go there - they rush under the wheels."

By four hours, a crowd of walking on Tverskaya was noticeably thinned - but several hundred people remained at the Pushkin monument.

- Why did the action take place without detention? -the Medusa correspondent turned to the 18-year-old supporter of Navalny, who was here (the only detainee, was released without a protocol).

-Why not? Moreover, Putin has a day today! Or maybe they realized from the third time that there was no need to detain anyone by the way, this is probably Putin rain. I tried to wash off, ”he answered.

Another protestant-Nikita-said that rallies should actually go just like that, without detention: “Perhaps they decided to play in contrast: they beat in Catalonia, we don’t have it. So calmly, even authorized actions rarely pass. ”

“The police are experimenting with tactics each time. But in general, there was always a question: what will happen if you do nothing - just let people stand up? Suddenly they stand, disperse and nothing will be? Plus, all these cruelty on the birthday of Vladimir Vladimirovich can create a bad background for him - he has a good king, it may also be connected with this, ”Meduza told the opposition politician Vladimir Milov (he participates in the preparation of the Economic Bloc of Navalny's Economic Bloc).

At half -time, employees of Navalny’s headquarters announced the “official” end of the action. Nevertheless, hundreds of people remained on Pushkin Square. They performed the songs in chorus - from the “Holy War” to “Call me, call”, peeping their words in phones. Ordinary passers -by and tourists appeared on the square. Two women tried to take pictures against the background of a monument, which the police and warriors guarded with special zeal for the last two hours; Closing over the tourists, the policeman missed them for the fence - and he took a picture.

Later it became known that the organizers in Moscow could not complete the action. Supporters of Navalny went to the Manezhnaya Square; On Twitter, “Protest Moscow” reports that about 300 people gathered there. Medusa continues to monitor the development of events in the chronicle .

Sasha Sulim, Ilya Zhegulev