"Putin broke the generator"

The strike of voters in Yekaterinburg was held in an atmosphere of fun, and pensioners were one of the most active categories

Photo: Marta Radishcheva

Before the rally began, for another half hour, but about a thousand people have already gathered on the site near the Uralets cultural and entertainment complex. Today, not just the head of the headquarters of Navalny, but his fellow countryman, Leonid Volkov, was one of the first truly open deputies of the City Duma of Yekaterinburg, his blog in the “Live Journal”, and then the Facebook page became a visual illustration of the word “democracy”. Many citizens remember this.

Not used to it

On the perimeter of the site here and there, police are visible. For a meeting with them, some of those who came to the rally prepared in advance: a group of young people, in addition to balls and signs with the inscriptions “20! 8” and “strike”, hold roses in their hands - for the police. "What, have not yet seen people come to a rally with flowers?" - they smile.

Photo: Marta Radishcheva

In general, there are a lot of young people here. Girls with the hair of all the colors of the rainbow and earrings in the nose, boys with hipster beards, yesterday's graduates and just schoolchildren.

An elderly man talks with two girls of about sixteen, who say why they came here: “When Putin had a birthday, our teacher’s teacher said“ Today is a birthday with the greatest person ”! People are just used to it. And we are not. "

“Tell me why there are no minerals in Denmark, but people live better there?”

The second category in the number at the rally is pensioners. The elderly is even more than middle -aged people, and they behave very actively. Many came with posters of their own manufacturing. “I was abroad, they have a pension there ten times more than ours,” one old woman shares with the product. - Tell me, why in Denmark there are no minerals, but people live better there? ”

Another elderly man clearly came here by accident. He enters into a discussion with a young supporter of Navalny, but there are clearly not enough arguments. “Well, things are not going very in the country, but foreign policy? We have military equipment! ” - The dispute lover does not retreat.

Leonid Volkov appears on the site. He is slightly excited, perhaps because he will act in front of the inhabitants of his hometown. Volkov warms up with Aleksey Beznube-a social activist, a member of the Rosyama project, whom the district court sentenced to three years of conditional term: when Alexei by the quarterly at Uralmash, the ownerless hockey gates fell on a 4-year-old boy, seriously injured him. The Bezob was extremely extreme in this story - even four children of Alexei did not touch the heart of the judges, one of whom is disabled.

"Harms your future"

Coming to the rally are built in a column and advanced where a small scene is arranged. Some supporters of Navalny were prepared creatively for the event: one carries a caricature of Putin, the other a huge “cigarette” pack with a warning: “Lack of choice harms your future.”

Leonid Volkov begins his speech with a declaration of love for Yekaterinburg - the city in which peaceful rallies are possible, in which at one time the right to choose the mayor. The country has broken, and we must fix it, he says. Otherwise, in March 2018, "we will receive another six years of strict regime."

- We were preparing a year and a half, and there are no elections in the election! And there are no elections, - Volkov is leaving the approving rumble of the crowd. “But this does not mean that we have ceased to be right, that theft from this has become a good deed!” March 18 will be very strange elections. Ramzan Kadyrov to give all the money or to Venezuela? Emvedeshniki will you beat with a club or Feusbeshniki? So even this is not allowed to choose. They treat us so that they are jailers, and we are prisoners. Recent events in the country clearly showed - society was divided into descendants of prisoners and descendants of Vertukhaev.

The mood at the rally reigns joyful, music plays on stage. At times, everything that happens resembles a certain monstance with comic slogans and posters.

For example, when the generator suddenly turns off, and Volkov’s microphone is silent, young people with the flags of Russia begin to chant: “Putin broke the generator.”

"We ended up in a situation where not to go to the polls - this is the choice of a free person"

The Union of Navalny and Grudinin?

Volkov invites the mayor of the city of Evgeny Roizman to the stage, noting that only in Yekaterinburg did he have the opportunity to give the floor to the mayor.

Roizman's performance takes only a minute: he again voices his position, indicated more than once - you do not need to go to the elections, because everything is already a foregone conclusion. Speech now and then is interrupted due to the dying generator, but this is more likely to amuse people.

The mayor of the city Evgeny Roizman Photo: Marta Radishcheva is

The calls to the boycott are continued by the supporter of Navalny, political scientist Fedor Krasheninnikov:

- Do not fall on the lie, no elections are happening, only a vile mockery of the concept of “election” occurs. Propaganda "For elections" is propaganda for Putin, it is a deception. From morning to evening, officials run in circles, preoccupied with one - how to drive as many people as possible. We ended up in a situation where not to go to the elections - this is the choice of a free person. Because state employees with sticks and kicks will drive for the one whose victory every homeless in the trash knows.

The original political move, which could be undertaken by Navalny, is voiced by the deputy of the City Duma of Yekaterinburg Dmitry Golovin from the stage. In his opinion, the chief Russian opposition would be worth entering into an alliance with the Candidate of the Communist Party of the Communist Party Pavel Grudinin in order to take part in the elected race.

“If Grudinin refuses, this will say a lot about Grudinin, but this will not reduce our confidence in Navalny at all,” Golovin notes.

An hour after the official start of the rally, the participants slightly frozen diverge home - red balls flow along the streets with the inscription “20! 8” and the letter “H” in all directions.