Thousands gather in Moscow for anti-Putin rally

PanARMENIAN.Net - Tens of thousands gathered in downtown Moscow in the pouring rain on Russia Day on Tuesday, June 12 for a mass anti-Kremlin rally, the first after legislation on rallies was radically tightened by the government, RIA Novosti reported.

Meanwhile, President Vladimir Putin, accused before the rally of preparing a crackdown on the opposition, urged political forces in the country for dialogue and proposed compromise in a speech on Tuesday.

The March of Millions, which was approved by the authorities for up to 50,000 participants, saw the protesters march along downtown boulevards and a stop for a concert and a round of speeches from opposition figures.

The red flags of the Communists predominated with plenty of nationalists also in attendance, according to a RIA Novosti correspondent on the scene. A helicopter circled above.

"While we are united, we can never be defeated," chanted a crowd composed of hardline Communists, liberal democrats and nationalists, summing up neatly for one brief moment the disparate nature of the anti-Putin movement.

"They will not scare us!" chanted protesters at the first demostration since a dramatic increase in fines for protest-related offences, introduced by a bill signed into law by Putin last Friday.

City police said 18,000 showed up for the rally as of 2 p.m. Organizers and opposition media put the figure at between 25,000 and 100,000.

Some 12,000 police officers were deployed throughout Moscow on Tuesday, police said earlier. Speakers at the event included leftist leaders Sergei Udaltsov and Dmitry Gudkov, liberal politician Boris Nemtsov and opposition-minded writer Dmitry Bykov.

Tensions have mounted in the country after the clashes in May, with police cracking down several times on camps that protesters tried to pitch in the capital’s center.

A bill has been fast-tracked through the federal legislature recently, tightening rules for staging public events and hiking fines for violations of public order at rallies from 1,000 rubles ($30) to 300,000 rubles ($9,000).

Protest rallies also took place in several provincial cities nationwide on Tuesday, most attracting several hundreds protesters each.

Police detained two rally organizers in St. Petersburg for allowing the event last longer than sanctioned, Fontanka.ru city news website said. A rally organizer was also held in Novosibirsk during the even tover an unpaid fine, Sib.fm said.