MOSCOW, July 21 (NNN-AGENCIES) — More than 22,000 people packed a Moscow square to demand free and fair local polls, incensed by the authorities’ refusal to put popular opposition candidates on the ballot.
Staging their largest protest in years, opposition leaders such as President Vladimir Putin’s top opponent Alexei Navalny and ordinary Muscovites rallied after authorities refused to register independent candidates seeking to contest the September vote for the capital’s parliament.
Navalny, 43, threatened an even bigger rally next Saturday, near the mayor’s office, unless Moscow’s authorities register a new crop of popular politicians including Ilya Yashin and Lyubov Sobol within seven days.
After the rally, 16 independent candidates issued a joint statement demanding access to the ballot and accusing Moscow mayor Sergei Sobyanin of sparking a “political crisis” in the city of some 15 million.
Police detained a handful of protesters, said the OVD-Info monitor, adding one of them had his arm broken.
Many protesters took direct aim at the 66-year-old Putin, who has brooked no dissent during his two decades in power.
Opposition candidate Ilya Yashin, who is a local councillor, said Putin must go. “I’ve lived half my life under Putin. I’ve had enough,” the 36-year-old said.
Fellow opposition contender Dmitry Gudkov, who was also disqualified, accused the authorities of stealing not only people’s votes but their very future.
White Counter, an NGO that tracks participation in protest rallies, said about 22,500 people took part in Saturday’s rally.
Police, which downplay turnout at opposition rallies, said 12,000 turned up.
Some 7.2 million Muscovites are eligible to elect 45 lawmakers to the local parliament, currently dominated by the United Russia ruling party. — NNN-AGENCIES
