NEWS

The biggest demonstrations were held by the country's main organized opposition force, the Communist Party. In dozens of cities - including Moscow, St. Petersburg, Ryazan, and Vladivostok - thousands gathered under banners calling for the nationalization of Russian industry and rigid state control of finances - in short, precisely the things that Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said the country shouldn't do during his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos last week.

So it was no surprise that the Communists called for Putin's resignation as well. One poster in Vladivostok showed an octopus in a typical "capitalist-style" top hat spreading his tentacles over Russia. The caption read, "We cannot live like this. The government needs to meet its responsibilities to its people."

While a series of guerrilla-style Dissenter's Marches staged across Moscow over the weekend were violently suppressed by the OMON riot police, the Communists, for the most part, were left in peace - as they typically are, party officials said.

"Strength is respected," said Sergei Seregin, an official at party headquarters, when asked why the police didn't break up their rallies.

"All those tricks tried by the Other Russia destabilise things. On the other hand, if we go out into the streets and we have a huge crowd, OMON is not going to try and disperse it. We are orderly, we obey the law and the regulations, and we act accordingly."

Seregin said that the concept of a sanctioned versus an unsanctioned rally was ridiculous: by law, all activists have to do is inform the city authorities where and when they want to hold an event.

By contrast, after brutal clashes with the OMON, the Other Russia, headed by liberal politician Garry Kasparov, has chosen another tactic: not informing the authorities at all, so as to give them less time to prepare.

"There are certain advantages to this tactic," said Ilya Yashin, a former Yabloko party youth leader who is now a member of the Solidarity movement, with which Kasparov is affiliated. "But it was also chaotic - people didn't know where to go."

A better strategy is to try and agree things with the authorities in hope of drawing a bigger turnout, Yashin said. "One of the problems of the opposition is that it has become this extreme political movement. Only activists who are prepared to get arrested and beaten up take to the streets."

To attract regular supporters, Yashin said, organizers need to at least try to play by the rules.

As for the Communists' tactics, Yashin's explanation is simple: like all the country's main political parties, "members of the central apparatus have regular contact with the presidential administration. The Other Russia does not."

The Communists' turnout at rallies was bigger outside of Moscow: while up to 1,000 supporters gathered in Moscow's Triumfalnaya Ploshchad on Saturday, where they were joined later by the outlawed National Bolshevik Party, headed by Eduard Limonov. In Vladivostok and Vladikavkaz, Communist protests attracted crowds of about 3,000 people, Seregin said.

In Moscow, police say 41 people were detained for taking part in "unsanctioned" rallies. Mostly these were National Bolsheviks, including Limonov, who was arrested while trying to climb up onto the statue of poet Vladimir Mayakovsky. A total of 250 Other Russia activists gathered near Polyanka in Moscow, according to spokeswoman Lyudmila Mamina.

"All these rallies were aimed at activists, not regular supporters," she said.

Other Russia pickets were held in a handful of cities across Russia, with about 50 people showing up at each gathering.

The National Bolsheviks held rallies in about 10 cities, spokesman Alexander Averin said. Anywhere from 10 to 100 people showed up.

In Moscow, police reported that up to 8,000 people showed up for a pro-government rally outside the Kremlin. Less publicised was the gathering of 70 people in support of the ultranationalist Movement Against Illegal Immigration, near the Aka­de­mi­ches­kaya metro station in southern Moscow.

The most bizarre demonstration was what appeared at first glance to be a pro-government march in St. Petersburg.

Dozens of young people bearing posters of Putin captioned "Our sun!" and banners reading "We agree to everything" were left untouched by police, Novaya Gazeta reported.

But among their seemingly in­nocuous slogans, were other, more ironic ones: "Yes to a 12-hour work day!", "Yes to Inflation!" and "My Last Shirt to the Beloved Premier!"