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| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia |
| Political activists, police spar in Moscow |
| 2007-04-15 |
| For beleaguered but feisty anti-Kremlin activists of various political stripes, today was a day of drama and high tension, as young radicals and fed-up pensioners alike used a protest march and rally to taunt authorities. The demonstrators succeeded in provoking the government to bare its teeth, with police arresting hundreds and trying to intimidate journalists. The day was not without humor, however. After police detained one of the protest organizers, Garry Kasparov, a former world chess champion turned democratic activist, a rally speaker declared wryly that Kasparov was "playing chess" with the authorities. Kasparov and his disparate allies, including a former prime minister and a writer who heads a radical youth group, share the goal of keeping protest alive in a country where Russian President Vladimir V. Putin's government asserts ever-greater centralized control. Putin enjoys more than 70% support ratings, and many critics question why, given that popularity, his government appears intent on stifling even weak opposition. A maximum of 3,000 people made any attempt to protest in Moscow today, while authorities called out 9,000 officers to keep control. Some opposition activists argue that the response is proof that Putin's circle is neither so powerful nor monolithic as it seems. In recent months, Kasparov and his associates, along with London-based tycoon Boris Berezovsky, a onetime political insider turned fierce Putin critic, have outlined similar visions of how greater democracy might come to Russia. Under their scenario, street protests keep the spark of dissent alive, and at some point the seemingly solid Kremlin power structure splits, and one faction goes over to the opposition. That is when true political competition and greater hopes for real democracy could take hold, they say. |
| Posted by:Fred |