MOSCOW - A demonstration by at least 20,000 people on the eve of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration as president turned into a battle with police Sunday after some protesters tried to split off from the approved venue and march to the Kremlin.
Club-wielding officers wearing helmets seized
demonstrators and hauled them to police vehicles, dragging some by the
hair, others by the neck. Several protesters were injured....
The agenda-pushing AmeriKan media seem very approving of these protests when compared to Occupy, and that is very instructive.
The break in that pattern probably reflected a sense of anger and impotence among protesters upset that Putin was handily elected to a new term in the Kremlin despite their defiance. Putin, who imposed a political system that stifled dissent and who dismissed the protesters as pampered youths and Western stooges, will be sworn in for a six-year term Monday.
Putin not liked by agenda-pushing media because he not on board with neo-con plan. He's right about the protesters being stooges, too. That's why they get the favorable press here.
After about an hour of tense confrontation, police began pushing back protesters and harshly detained some of them. Police then detained protesters who had remained peacefully at the approved venue.
When the AmeriKan enforcers do it no big deal.
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Related: Rushing Through Russian Post
Wrapping Up Russian Protests
I'm trying.
"Putin sworn in as Russian president again; Leader faces new generation that does not fear state" by Ellen Barry and Sophia Kishkovsky | New York Times, May 08, 2012
MOSCOW — Though he handily won presidential elections in March, Putin, 59, faces a rising generation with no recollection of the Soviet system that shaped his worldview. They do not fear the state, and they are apparently prepared to fight for power from below, said Alexander Rahr, a Russia specialist with the German Council on Foreign Relations.
A buoyant march Sunday turned violent, and by Monday evening, more than 700 protesters had been detained, though many were released almost immediately.
The chaotic scene came in contrast with the president’s inauguration. Putin looked grave — even burdened — as he delivered a short address to a roomful of dignitaries.
“I will do my best to justify the trust of millions of our citizens,’’ he said in a brief speech.
Putin immediately fulfilled his promise to Dmitry Medvedev, his predecessor, by recommending him to Parliament as Russia’s next prime minister.
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"Russian police crack down on protesters after Putin, Medvedev swap jobs" Washington Post, May 09, 2012
MOSCOW - Vladimir Putin completed the job swap Tuesday that so enraged voters when he announced it last fall: A day after Putin was inaugurated as president, Dmitry Medvedev succeeded Putin as prime minister.
Occupy knows the feeling.
Police acted with relative restraint Tuesday, perhaps hoping that rain and lack of sleep would drive away demonstrators more effectively than nightsticks.
AmeriKan cops were hoping for cold -- and their hopes were answered.
Some protesters joked that the authorities must have seeded the clouds to demoralize them. That moderation was unlikely to last until Wednesday, when Russian armed forces march through Red Square in a show of force to commemorate victory in World War II, known here as the Great Patriotic War.
Putin also treated the Duma deputies dismissively in his first appearance before them since his inauguration.
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"200 activists camp in Moscow plaza" ASSOCIATED PRESS, May 12, 2012
MOSCOW - Since Monday, activists have been staging flashmobs across Moscow: suddenly assembling in public places, then camping and staying there for the night....
Activists on Friday were camping out around the monument of Abai, a prominent 19th-century Kazakh poet and philosopher - a random choice. They put up a notice board, announcing upcoming meetings and lectures about peaceful resistance. Some climbed up to the monument to clean it.
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"Russian gay activist fined for protest" Associated Press, May 05, 2012
Homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1993, but antigay sentiment remains strong. Moscow’s mayor Sergei Sobyanin has said he disapproves of gay gatherings.
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"Throngs at Moscow cathedral show support for church" April 23, 2012
MOSCOW - Tens of thousands prayed outside Moscow’s main cathedral on Sunday to show their support for the Russian Orthodox Church in a controversy over a punk rock protest that has added to the political tensions in Russia.
Christ the Savior Cathedral was the scene of a brief surprise performance in February by a female punk rock group protesting Vladimir Putin’s return to the presidency....
Patriarch Kirill has described the punk performance as blasphemous and part of a broader attack on the church, which is considered by many Russians as essential to their national identity and an intrinsic part of a powerful state.
Kirill had called on believers to attend Sunday’s service to pray “for our faith, our church, our sacred objects, and our fatherland.’’
The church maintains that desecration of icons and other acts of vandalism have become more frequent since the punk protest. As the patriarch led a procession around the cathedral, priests carried a crucifix and an icon that had been damaged in attacks elsewhere in Russia this spring.
The priests also carried an icon that had been pierced by bullets in the 1920s, when Communists began destroying churches in Russia after taking power in 1917.
But they left the synagogues standing?
Speaking to the crowds from a stage outside the cathedral, Kirill said the church once again has come under attack from “enemy forces.’’
The patriarch has joined the Kremlin in portraying the recent wave of protests against Putin as a threat to Russian statehood.
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