Tens of thousands in anti-Putin rally in Moscow

MOSCOW (AP) — Tens of thousands of people marched across downtown Moscow on Saturday in the first major protest in three months against President Vladimir Putin — a sign of the opposition’s strength despite the Kremlin’s efforts to muzzle dissent.

The demonstration showed the opposition’s resilience, despite the government’s attempts to stem the protest movement that brought out more than 100,000 people last winter in a series of big street protests against Putin’s election to a third presidential term.

Hopes for a quick change that many protesters had during the winter have waned, but opposition supporters appeared ready to dig in for a long fight.

“We have to defend our rights, which we were deprived of, the right to have elections. We’re deprived of honest elections and an honest government,” opposition activist Alexander Shcherbakov said. “I’m coming to show that and to demonstrate that the people are opposed. I’m opposed to illegitimate government and illegitimate elections.”

Leftists, liberals and nationalists mixed with students, teachers, gay activists and others on the capital’s tree-lined boulevards in Saturday’s rally, chanting “Russia without Putin!” and “We are the power here!” The protest remained peaceful as about 7,000 police officers stood guard along the route of the march, and a police helicopter hovered overhead.

Putin has taken a tougher course against the opposition since his inauguration in May with a series of new repressive laws, arrests and interrogation of activists. In August, a court handed two-year prison sentences to three members of the punk band Pussy Riot for performing an anti-Putin song inside Moscow’s main cathedral.

Some activists on Saturday carried big balloons with balaclava masks painted on — the band’s trademark headwear. Another rally participant carried a basket with three plastic heads in brightly colored balaclavas.

Many demonstrators targeted Putin with creative placards and outfits. Some mocked Putin’s recent publicity stunt when he flew in a motorized hang glider to lead a flock of young Siberian white cranes in flight.

One protester donned a white outfit similar to the one worn by Putin on the flight with a placard reading: “Give up hope, each of you who follow me.”

The rally, which had received the required permit from authorities, appeared to be as big as the last major protest in June, which also attracted tens of thousands.

The organizers had spent days in tense talks with the city government over the protest route on Saturday as the authorities tried to move it farther away from the city center. Such tense bargaining preceded each of the previous opposition marches.

A protest on the eve of Putin’s inauguration had ended in clashes with police, and the Kremlin responded by arresting some of its participants and approving a new draconian law that raised fines 150-fold for taking part in unsanctioned protests. The authorities, however, granted permission for a subsequent opposition rally in June, which was peaceful.

Alexei Navalny, a charismatic anti-corruption crusader and a popular blogger who has been a key driving force behind the opposition protests, urged the demonstrators to show resolve and keep the pressure on the Kremlin with more street protests.

“We must come to rallies to win freedom for ourselves and our children, to defend our human dignity,” he said to cheers of support. “We will come here as to our workplace. No one else will free us but ourselves.”

A day before the rally, parliament expelled an opposition lawmaker who angered the Kremlin by joining the protest movement. The vote to oust Gennady Gudkov over allegations of running a business in violation of parliament rules — charges Gudkov called “a sham” — angered many, possibly helping beef up the ranks of protesters.

The vote deprived Gudkov, a KGB veteran like Putin, from his immunity from prosecution and his supporters fear he could be arrested.

His son Dmitry Gudkov, also a lawmaker, said he hopes the Kremlin won’t dare to put his father in prison after seeing the protesters’ strength. “They will have either to think about serious reforms and end their repressions, or they will come to a very bad end,” he said as marched with a column of protesters.

“It’s necessary right now for all Russians to come out into the streets to show the regime that changes are needed in our country, and that without them our country can’t develop,” said teacher Valentina Merkulova, who participated in Saturday’s protest. “The most important thing is that, the more Russians come out, the less bloody the change of regime, the change of power. A change of power is necessary.”