"The protege of Moscow will not win here"

Due to the arrest of the governor, Khabarovsk gathered for many thousands of protests-and the police did not interfere. City deputy and head of Navalny’s headquarters explain that it was

On July 11, a rally was held in Khabarovsk in support of the arrested governor of the Khabarovsk Territory Sergey Furgal. Several tens of thousands of people took to the streets of the city: the action is called the most mass in the history of the city. Despite the fact that she was unauthorized, the police did not interfere with the police and the procession along the central streets of the city. The Special Corps of Medusa Andrei Pertsev talked about the causes of the rally, the actions of the police and the prospects of the Far Eastern protest with the deputy of the Khabarovsk City Duma from the LDPR Alexander Kayan and the head of the Khabarovsk headquarters Alexei Navalny Alexei Vorsin.

Alexander Koyan: "Police are also the inhabitants of Khabarovsk, who voted for a van"

- How do you assess the number of participants in the rally?

-Basically, they say about about 20-30 thousand participants, but it is really impossible to count people, because the crowd descended from Lenin Square to Komsomolskaya Square, and then to the Square of Glory, which was completely clogged by people. True, it was very difficult to count, but more than 30 thousand people for sure! People came, left, joined, disconnected - with this account you can count 60 thousand. I admit this figure.

- People walked along the roadway, how were motorists who fell into traffic jams reacted to the procession?

- Road work was going on on Karl Marx Street - they stopped, the workers on their trucks were signed by the procession. We must pay tribute to the traffic police officers who have sex abruptly and quickly, they seemed to direct people in a large circle. Due to this, several intersections of the streets were free, and the cars could drive. But the two central streets of the city were blocked, and the drivers had no indignation. They supported. This is what I saw.

- In the Nenets district, whose inhabitants protested against a merger with the Arkhangelsk region, many cars had stickers with an expression of people's position. Is this in Khabarovsk?

- There are more and more stickers. For example, I received a sticker on Komsomolskaya Square and asked the person who handed them out - where did he get them from? He replied that he spent his personally earned 12 thousand rubles. In almost every district of Khabarovsk, you can see how people distribute stickers for cars. They are different in appearance, not from one printing house. There is no common template!

- What, in your opinion, is the main message of the rally?

- People, first of all, defended their choice - and shouted "this is our choice!" I talked with the participants in the rally: no one believes that the hand of justice overtook the governor for crimes, which he allegedly could commit in 2004-2005. Almost all residents of the city see this political connotation and are ready to defend their choice.

If we take the situation of 2018, when Sergei Furgal was chosen, people went to vote against the [governor of Vyacheslav], this is no secret. In 2019, when the LDPR won, people went to the plots to protect the governor - a lot of dirt poured on him. It was also the protection of the choice. A rally is a continuation of this story. There were no provocations during the action. At the White House, one person suggested saying thanks to the police. She did not interfere - as we see, it happens at rallies. And the people shouted - thanks!

- Why did the police behave calmly and restrained?

- These are also the inhabitants of Khabarovsk, who also voted for the governor. I talked with many police officers, they admitted that they voted for a van. Khabarovsk is not so big, each person can find common friends. These are the same Khabarovsk residents, only in performance, they all see and understand everything perfectly. They did everything competently, they understood that in the event of some kind of provocation by the police, there could be the effect of an exploding bomb. Tens of thousands of people who opposed political repression walked along the street. By the way, many had fears that law enforcement officers from other regions of Russia who do not know us would be drunk here.

-I saw the information that the Rosgardists from Rostov-on-Don had already arrived in Khabarovsk.

- Rumors go differently, it is impossible to confirm them - they say about Rostov and about Novosibirsk. Let's call it fears.

-Do you observe the reaction to the rally in pro-government media and telegram channels?

- In theory, the federal government is interested in stabilizing the situation, but ridiculous provocations begin in the pro -government channels: for example, that there were few people. But everyone in Khabarovsk understands that this is not so. They write that the rally was organized almost from the government of the region, but this again offends people. In addition, it is impossible to organize an action from above in two days, there are no such specialists here. Maybe such news somehow smooth out the perception of the situation in Khabarovsk in other regions, but only exacerbate the situation in the Khabarovsk Territory itself. It is not clear why they are pumped up. Probably, there are simply not enough brains to figure it out.

- Will the protests continue or will decline?

- People are ready to exit large -scale on Saturday, I asked the rally participants. Everything is going on as usual, people do not quit work, but they are ready to defend the opinion. We were noticed throughout Russia, it pleases that everything goes without extremes, without riots, without provocations.

Alexey Vorsin: "Incomprehensible Moscow uncles from the presidential administration came and decided to take away the choice"

- Do you think how many people came to the rally?

- These are thousands, tens of thousands of people. Even the Khabarovsk police admitted that there were more than 10 thousand participants. It’s hard to count here, I have never seen a whole crowd, there were a lot of people.

- Khabarovsk saw a action of such a scale?

“I don’t remember that.” Grandfathers, however, say that in 1991, thousands of people also gathered in the square, but I did not see this.

- What slogans sounded at a rally?

- The first slogans were with the requirements of freedom to Furgal, people shouted - "this is our choice." Already during the procession they began to shout “Shame on Moscow!”, Personally against Putin, too, the people screamed. You go in the crowd, someone randomly charges a screaming, and everyone picks up-“Down with the Tsar”, “Putin-a thief”. All this was too.

- What is the main message of the rally?

- Furgal is a choice that the Khabarovsk residents made, and then incomprehensible Moscow uncles from the presidential administration came and decided to take this choice. People opposed this.

-Because of these “incomprehensible uncles” were there antimoskov cries?

- Yes. For example, they took a good proposal to judge a vurge in the Khabarovsk Territory. People do not believe the court that will be held in Moscow.

- How did the police behave?

- The police initially surrounded Lenin's Square with a fence - under the pretext that there will be disinfecting from coronavirus. Either the police removed him in the end, or the people themselves removed. And nothing terrible happened - at first the people went to the square, then went along the roadway. The main thing is that the drivers who are stuck because of this showed any aggression. Every second driver signaled in support, got out of cars, applauded.

- Are new protests possible?

- Not ready to judge whether the rallies will be repeated. But [the protest] mood will remain, and in electorally it will be felt. I can’t imagine how the “federals” with their agenda to the State Duma will come here - “United Russia”, Putin ... They were not loved. After the splash that occurred today, people saw that they were not alone, that thousands think so. This key thing [in the elections to the State Duma] will be.

- How will the Khabarovsk residents react to the one who will be appointed instead of Sergei Furgal?

- Depends on what this person will do. By the way, probably there are few people who want to take this position. Probably the acting, whoever he is, will declare - it was not me that I planted a van. But at least each appointment will be the initial distrust, any misses will be noticed. The year will have to work for the acting, and in the elections, in any case, it will be bad. I do not see any opportunity for the protege of Moscow to win here. We have to compose some tricky scheme, pull someone from the locals. It will not be possible, as in some regions, to send the FSB-Shnik from the center. Nothing shines such a candidate here at all.

Andrei Pertsev talked