NEWS

Protesters from Russia's liberal opposition rallied in the latest of a series of unsanctioned Dissenters Marches that were held in Moscow and St. Petersburg over the weekend. But they were not the only ones to ‘celebrate' Russia's Constitution Day on Dec. 12. A pro-Kremlin youth group gathered to celebrate Miss Constitution 2008 in the capital with a 5,000-strong rally.

Organizers of the oppositional group ‘Other Russia' had sent a request to the Moscow mayor's office on Dec. 1 asking for permission to hold a protest rally on Triumfalny Square on Sunday, Dec. 14. The day marked the anniversary of the Decembrist Uprising of 1820, in which protesters had asked the Czar for a constitution. As well-established liberal opposition parties such as Yabloko tried to distance themselves from their more marginal cousins, opting for cooperation with the Kremlin instead, supporters of Other Russia used the occasion to protest the latest amendments to Russia's Constitution, which extend the presidential term to six years.

"Four protests were held in Moscow [on Sunday]," Other Russia spokesperson Lyud­mila Mamina told The Moscow News. "None of them were sanctioned. About 90 people were detained, all of them released on the same day, although some were held at precincts for more than three hours."

She added that members of the pro-Kremlin youth group Rossiya Molodaya protested against the illegal march.

According to police, however, the gathering wasn't much of a protest at all. "There were only isolated attempts by hooligans... which were intercepted by police," Moscow Interior Ministry spokesperson Viktor Biryukov was quoted by news agencies as saying. "The mayor's office and police got numerous phone calls from people complaining about unorganized groups of people that were getting in the way of pedestrians and residents."

One of the marches was held on the Garden Ring, where about 150 people showed up, according to one of the organizers, Lolita Tsaria. "We managed not to get anyone arrested," she told The Moscow News. "But we were joined by a group of people from the Nashi [pro-Kremlin youth organization] who unfurled a banner with a picture of  Bere­zovsky [exiled tycoon, Boris Berezovsky], accompanied by the words ‘he will help us,'" in an attempt to discredit the protesters.

Nashi spokesperson Kristina Potupchik denied that her organization had held any events near where the opposition gathered, saying they were not involved. Instead, she said, Nashi had held a "celebration" of Constitution Day just off of Red Square on Dec. 12, featuring concerts and a "Miss Constitution 2008" pageant.

Spokesperson Yevgeny Nasonov of the pro-Kremlin Rossiya Molodaya confirmed that his group had held an unsanctioned "counter-protest on Triumfalny Square" with 15 people getting up on the roof of the Tchaikovsky Musical Hall.

"We unfurled a banner saying ‘Stop rocking the boat' and threw out flyers saying that the crisis was caused by the United States. We need to stick together to make it through the financial crisis," he told The Moscow News, commenting on the fliers. "We don't need American marionettes rocking the boat." According to Nasonov, over a dozen people from Rossiya Molodaya were detained. 

By Anna Arutunyan