Tens of thousands of Russians rallied together on Saturday to protest alleged electoral fraud and urge an end to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's rule.
6:22PM GMT 10 Dec 2011
4 Comments In Moscow, organisers claimed up to 150,000 people attended the protests in Bolotnaya Square, which is across the river from the Kremlin. Crowds were heard chanting "Russia without Putin".
Protests are believed to have taken place in up to 50 cities, including St. Petersburg, Russia's second largest city, where 7,000 people were reported to have gathered.
Less than 100 arrests resulting from the rallies were reported nationwide, fewer than the hundreds arrested at smaller protests in the first days after the Dec. 4 national election.
Today's demonstrations come three months before Putin, who was president between 2000 and 2008 and prime minister thereafter, is to seek a third presidential term.
The massive outpouring of public anger challenges his image, supported by state-controlled TV channels, as a man backed by the majority of Russians.
Putin received his first blow in last Sunday's parliamentary elections, when his United Party narrowly retained a majority of seats, but lost the unassailable two-thirds majority it had held in the previous parliament.
Russia's main opposition party claim even that reduced performance was inflated by vote fraud, citing reports by local and international monitors of widespread violations.
The reports of vote-rigging and the party's loss of seats appear to have acted as a catalyst for the discontent of many Russians.
"The falsifications that authorities are doing today have turned the country into a big theatre, with clowns like in a circus," said Alexander Trofimov, one of the demonstrators at Bolotnaya Square, on an island in the Moscow River adjacent to the Kremlin.
State-controlled TV channels gave notable airtime to the protests. A top United Russian official, Andrei Isayev, acknowledged late Saturday that "expression of this point of view is extremely important and will be heard in the mass media, society and the state."
Officials in many cities, including Moscow, gave permission for the protests. But in what appeared to be an attempt to prevent young people from attending the protest, Moscow's school system declared Saturday afternoon a mandatory extra school day for grades 9 to 11. Students were told about the decision only on Friday, news reports said.
Hundreds of people were arrested in smaller protests earlier in the week. Some, including prominent opposition blogger Alexei Navalny, were sentenced to 15 days in jail.
Another prominent opposition figure, Sergei Udaltsov, was admitted to hospital after his arrest on Monday. He was expected to be released on Saturday, but the Interfax news agency said he was taken from the hospital to a court to face further charges.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev conceded this week that election law may have been violated.
The Kremlin has come under strong international pressure, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling the vote unfair and urging an investigation into fraud. Putin in turn criticised Clinton and the United States for allegedly instigating protests and trying to undermine Russia.
Putin received his first blow in last Sunday's parliamentary elections, when his United Party narrowly retained a majority of seats, but lost the unassailable two-thirds majority it had held in the previous parliament.
Russia's main opposition party claim even that reduced performance was inflated by vote fraud, citing reports by local and international monitors of widespread violations.
The reports of vote-rigging and the party's loss of seats appear to have acted as a catalyst for the discontent of many Russians.
"The falsifications that authorities are doing today have turned the country into a big theatre, with clowns like in a circus," said Alexander Trofimov, one of the demonstrators at Bolotnaya Square, on an island in the Moscow River adjacent to the Kremlin.
State-controlled TV channels gave notable airtime to the protests. A top United Russian official, Andrei Isayev, acknowledged late Saturday that "expression of this point of view is extremely important and will be heard in the mass media, society and the state."
Officials in many cities, including Moscow, gave permission for the protests. But in what appeared to be an attempt to prevent young people from attending the protest, Moscow's school system declared Saturday afternoon a mandatory extra school day for grades 9 to 11. Students were told about the decision only on Friday, news reports said.
Hundreds of people were arrested in smaller protests earlier in the week. Some, including prominent opposition blogger Alexei Navalny, were sentenced to 15 days in jail.
Another prominent opposition figure, Sergei Udaltsov, was admitted to hospital after his arrest on Monday. He was expected to be released on Saturday, but the Interfax news agency said he was taken from the hospital to a court to face further charges.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev conceded this week that election law may have been violated.
The Kremlin has come under strong international pressure, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton calling the vote unfair and urging an investigation into fraud. Putin in turn criticised Clinton and the United States for allegedly instigating protests and trying to undermine Russia.
