| JRL HOME | SUPPORT | SUBSCRIBE | RESEARCH & ANALYTICAL SUPPLEMENT | |
Old Saint Basil's Cathedral in MoscowJohnson's Russia List title and scenes of Saint Petersburg
Excerpts from the JRL E-Mail Community :: Founded and Edited by David Johnson

#12
BBC Monitoring
Rally in Russian republic's capital calls for full independence
Source: TV6, Moscow, in Russian 0700 gmt 15 Oct 01

[Presenter Aleksey Vorobyev] Tatarstan marks a special day today - several centuries ago on 15 October Kazan was seized by troops belonging to [Russian Tsar] Ivan the Terrible. For leaders of a national movement this is another occasion to ask for the [Tatar] Republic's independence.

Those taking part in a rally asked that Tatarstan be given full independence, that Russian passports be cancelled and Tatarstan ones introduced. The leadership of the Republic was accused of betrayal.

The rally organizers said that ever since Kazan was seized by Ivan the Terrible the Tatar people have been subjected to genocide and torture by Russia. However, it did not look like all the people who gathered in front of the house of the government fully understood why they were there.

[Unidentified rally participant] National equality but only through peace.

[Another unidentified participant] We are for everything that is being said here.

[omitted: rally participants chant slogans in Tatar]

[Presenter] After the rally finished and the police said over 2,000 people were there, those taking part walked through the streets chanting slogans in Tatar.

The event in fact looked like recent developments in Palestine or Pakistan but for the weather and the clothes.

[omitted: participants chant slogans in Tatar, "Allah Akbar" or God is great, and similar slogans]

[Video shows the rally, participants with posters in Tatar]

Back to the Top    Next Article