Opposition Plans Nationwide March of Millions on September 15
- JRL 2012-108
MOSCOW. June 14 (Interfax) - The opposition has decided to hold another March of Millions demonstration across Russia in mid-September, Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov said.
"The March's organizing committee has just finished (a meeting). It was decided to hold it in all Russian regions on September 15," Udaltsov told Interfax on Thursday.
During the summer, opposition activists will be visiting the Russian regions where they are planning to urge citizens to take part in the demonstration, he said.
"Before this fall, we shall form the Coordination Council through elections on the Internet, following which a special portal will be set up," the opposition activist said.
Also, the organizing committee has backed the idea of "the most intense campaign for the release of political prisoners, including by holding protests outside the Investigative Committee," he said.
"We are planning to go there as early as next Saturday, with a slogan, 'For Our and Your Freedom!' and the demand to stop repressions against the opposition," Udaltsov said.
The Thursday meeting of the organizing committee was attended by the usual organizers and participants of the recent opposition protests: Alexei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov, State Duma deputies Ilya Ponomaryov and Dmitry Gudkov and a number of other activists.
A day earlier, Solidarity movement activist and one of the March of Millions organizers Sergei Davidis said that the opposition decided to take a break and most likely will not hold mass protests in Moscow until this fall.
"There is likely to be a certain pause," Davidis told Interfax on Wednesday. Opposition rallies planned for this summer are unlikely to happen on a massive scale, he said.
Very soon the opposition is planning to start implementing one of the points of its manifesto adopted in Sakharov Avenue a day earlier, namely to set up a coordination council to protest preparations, Davidis said.
The current organizing committee is a pressure group with a "fluid" makeup, the activist said.
"The organizing committee was not elected or authorized by anyone. The organizing committee is often criticized for having no mandate. The manifesto contains a proposal to form, on the basis of democratic procedures, centralized coordination bodies of the protest movement," Davidis said.
This week the opposition is meeting to determine the mechanism of forming the coordination council, he said. "Some small group, consisting of the popular leaders - Navalny, Udaltsov and a few others - will devise some rules of the game. There are various theories: elections either only on the Internet, or both on the Internet and offline too. There are several patterns, there are questions, including technical ones, but they are solvable. Within a fairly short period of time, maybe a month, such a pattern will be devised. Voting will take another month approximately," the opposition activist said.
The two previous Marches of Millions were held on May 6 and June 12.
On May 6, the sanctioned March of Millions in Bolotnaya Square turned into clashes between demonstrators and police. The opposition accused police of inhibiting the march and rally. Police accused the opposition of a deliberate provocation. As a result, more than 400 people were arrested. Organizers said about 50,000 took part in the demonstration; police said around 8,000 participated.
After that opposition and civil activists spent the whole May held "walkabouts" around the Moscow city, occasionally followed by arrests.
The second March of Millions was held on June 12, no arrests were made. The demonstrators marched from Pushkinskaya Square as far as Sakharov Avenue where a rally was held later. Some 18,000 took part in the march, and about 15,000 in the rally, according to police estimates. Organizers said the figures were much bigger: between 50,000 and 100,000 demonstrators.
Keywords: Russia, Protests, Politics - Russian News - Russia
"The March's organizing committee has just finished (a meeting). It was decided to hold it in all Russian regions on September 15," Udaltsov told Interfax on Thursday.
During the summer, opposition activists will be visiting the Russian regions where they are planning to urge citizens to take part in the demonstration, he said.
"Before this fall, we shall form the Coordination Council through elections on the Internet, following which a special portal will be set up," the opposition activist said.
Also, the organizing committee has backed the idea of "the most intense campaign for the release of political prisoners, including by holding protests outside the Investigative Committee," he said.
"We are planning to go there as early as next Saturday, with a slogan, 'For Our and Your Freedom!' and the demand to stop repressions against the opposition," Udaltsov said.
The Thursday meeting of the organizing committee was attended by the usual organizers and participants of the recent opposition protests: Alexei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov, State Duma deputies Ilya Ponomaryov and Dmitry Gudkov and a number of other activists.
A day earlier, Solidarity movement activist and one of the March of Millions organizers Sergei Davidis said that the opposition decided to take a break and most likely will not hold mass protests in Moscow until this fall.
"There is likely to be a certain pause," Davidis told Interfax on Wednesday. Opposition rallies planned for this summer are unlikely to happen on a massive scale, he said.
Very soon the opposition is planning to start implementing one of the points of its manifesto adopted in Sakharov Avenue a day earlier, namely to set up a coordination council to protest preparations, Davidis said.
The current organizing committee is a pressure group with a "fluid" makeup, the activist said.
"The organizing committee was not elected or authorized by anyone. The organizing committee is often criticized for having no mandate. The manifesto contains a proposal to form, on the basis of democratic procedures, centralized coordination bodies of the protest movement," Davidis said.
This week the opposition is meeting to determine the mechanism of forming the coordination council, he said. "Some small group, consisting of the popular leaders - Navalny, Udaltsov and a few others - will devise some rules of the game. There are various theories: elections either only on the Internet, or both on the Internet and offline too. There are several patterns, there are questions, including technical ones, but they are solvable. Within a fairly short period of time, maybe a month, such a pattern will be devised. Voting will take another month approximately," the opposition activist said.
The two previous Marches of Millions were held on May 6 and June 12.
On May 6, the sanctioned March of Millions in Bolotnaya Square turned into clashes between demonstrators and police. The opposition accused police of inhibiting the march and rally. Police accused the opposition of a deliberate provocation. As a result, more than 400 people were arrested. Organizers said about 50,000 took part in the demonstration; police said around 8,000 participated.
After that opposition and civil activists spent the whole May held "walkabouts" around the Moscow city, occasionally followed by arrests.
The second March of Millions was held on June 12, no arrests were made. The demonstrators marched from Pushkinskaya Square as far as Sakharov Avenue where a rally was held later. Some 18,000 took part in the march, and about 15,000 in the rally, according to police estimates. Organizers said the figures were much bigger: between 50,000 and 100,000 demonstrators.