Thousands of people gathered in Moscow Sunday evening calling for greater political freedoms and a change to the country’s ruling powers after opposition parties failed to win representation in regional elections this month. Between 8,000 and 10,000 gathered at the rally just outside of the center of the Russian capital, said Leonid Volkov, one of the organizers, by telephone on Sunday. Prior to the rally as many as 8,400 people had registered their interest on Facebook while Moscow authorities gave permission for up to 40,000 demonstrators to congregate. Moscow police press-service said that about 4,000 people turned up. Opposition leader Alexey Navalny called the rally after his party failed to win parliamentary seats in the one region where it was allowed to stand in elections on Sept. 13.
“The same people shouldn’t be in power since 1999,” Navalny said in a statement on his website, last week. “These elections aren’t about the percentage we got but our right to tell people the truth everywhere we want.”
The rally was also designed to mark the anniversary of the start of Russia’s most recent presidential election campaign in 2011 when the then president, Dmitry Medvedev, said he would stand aside to let Vladimir Putin lead the race as the candidate of the ruling United Russia party. This allowed Putin to return to power as president for a third term after a four-year break during which he served as prime minister.
Opposition leaders further used the demonstration to call for the freedom of political prisoners and more freedom of speech. As the event ended people were shouting “Russia without Putin.”
Full Article: Russian Opposition Calls for Power Change in Moscow Rally – Bloomberg Business.
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