Protests after the 2011 Russian parliamentary elections
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The protests after the 2011 Russian parliamentary elections are demonstrations against alleged election fraud in the parliamentary elections on December 4, 2011 in Russia . They began on December 5th and resulted in the largest protest rallies in the country's recent history. The police responded to all rallies with large numbers.
Demonstrations
On the evening of December 5, 2011, thousands of people protested in Moscow and Saint Petersburg against the election result and the United Russia party . It was the largest opposition demonstration in years. Protesters shouted "Russia without Putin" and held up signs that read: "Give back their vote to the people!" Political activists Alexei Navalny and Ilya Yashin, as well as other demonstrators, are jailed for 15 days for "resisting state power." ".
The protest rallies on December 10, with 100,000 participants, are considered the largest demonstration in the Putin era and since the collapse of the Soviet Union and were organized in more than 90 cities. While the authorities in Moscow approved a rally of up to 30,000 people, many rallies were not allowed in other cities. Around 1,600 people have been arrested since the protests began.
In Moscow , according to estimates by the organizers, over a hundred thousand people gathered for the demonstration on Bolotnaya Square on Bolotny Island (directly on the bank of the Moscow River - opposite the Kremlin - in the Samoskvorechye district) ; According to the police , the number of participants was around 25,000. The demonstration was accompanied by a large number of security forces, around 50,000 men cordoned off parts of the city such as the Red Square . In Saint Petersburg , the police put the number of demonstrators at 10,000.
Representatives of several extra-parliamentary opposition groups and opposition parties represented in the Duma took part in the demonstration. In Moscow, Boris Nemtsov , Vladimir Ryschkow and Mikhail Kasyanov spoke . They wanted to participate in the election with their liberal party of people's freedom “For a Russia without arbitrariness and corruption” , but were not included in the official register of parties by the Ministry of Justice. Likewise, the writer Boris Akunin and the editor-in-chief of the dissident newspaper "New Times" Yevgenia Albaz spoke . Sergei Mitrochin , the chairman of the liberal Yabloko , as well as its founder Grigori Jawlinski participated like Gennady Gudkov of Just Russia . The Communist Party of the Russian Federation gave a speech with its leader of the parliamentary group in Moscow's city parliament, Andrei Klychkov .
Other participants in the demonstrations included representatives of the right-wing National Bolshevik Party of Eduard Limonov , which took part in Garry Kasparov and Boris Nemtsov's alliance The Other Russia , the left-wing radical Left Front and the ultra-liberal opposition group Solidarnost . Nationalists, anarchists, libertarians and supporters of the Pirate Party also took part in the demonstrations .
On December 24, 2011, thousands of people again protested in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Novosibirsk and other Russian cities against the result of the parliamentary elections. According to the police, 29,000 people - 120,000 according to the organizers - took part in Moscow. Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin also took part in the protest .
On February 4, 2012, another nationwide rally took place. According to the organizers, almost 120,000 people took part in the protest against Putin in winter temperatures below minus 20 degrees. The responsible department of the Ministry of the Interior puts the number of participants at 34,000. According to the police, the number of participants who took part in the pro-Putin demonstration, which was running at the same time, was 138,000. The rally was peaceful. On the same day, actions with the same demands took place worldwide, including in Germany.
Another mass rally took place in Moscow on May 6, the so-called "March of the Millions". The organizers (I. Yashin) put the number of participants at 100-120 thousand people, the Ministry of Interior says 8 thousand. The action took place with constant hindrance from the city administration and the police. The city administration has vehemently refused to confirm the announced location of the action (this only finally took place on the last night before the action). Several thousand participants who were on their way to the rally from large parts of the country were prevented from entering Moscow. The action was accompanied by a massive police presence and resulted in many riots and arrests, as a result of which 40 participants had to receive medical treatment and (according to the police) 460 participants were arrested. Among those arrested are famous opposition politicians Ilya Udaltsov , Boris Nemtsov and anti-corruption lawyer Alexei Navalny. In the course of the Bolotnaya trial , named after the location of the rally , 27 people were indicted and partially convicted of participating in mass riots and the use of violence against state officials. Among them is the prominent left opposition politician Sergei Udalzow , who is waiting for the start of his trial under house arrest.
requirements
The demonstrators are demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and President Dmitry Medvedev as well as a resolution for new elections and an investigation into allegations of fraud. The following five points were also recorded in writing on the anti -government internet platform kasparov.ru :
- the release of all political prisoners
- the cancellation of the falsified result of the parliamentary election
- the resignation of the pro-government election officer Vladimir Churov , the investigation of all falsification allegations and the punishment of those responsible
- the admission of all opposition parties to the vote
- a new democratic electoral law.
Reactions
In the wake of the ongoing protests, former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev called on December 7, 2011 for the elections to be canceled and new elections to be held. The Yabloko party's top candidate, Grigori Jawlinski , recommended that the elected MPs resign. Gorbachev told the Interfax news agency : "The country's leadership must recognize that there have been numerous violations and manipulations, and that the published results do not reflect the will of the voters." In addition, more and more Russians did not believe the published results, which the country did could destabilize: "A lie kills the credibility of a government."
President Dmitry Medvedev rejected the protesters' demands: "I do not agree with any of the slogans or calls made at the rallies." The Central Election Committee refused to dismiss Vladimir Churov. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin announced that, in his opinion, "everyone has the right to express their opinion as long as they behave peacefully and observe the law."
The Russian Orthodox Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin said in an interview in May 2012 that the citizens of Russia would not join the activities of an opposition that had nothing to offer. Among those who went to the demonstrations there were many who thought they were better than the majority of the people. The problem of the intelligentsia is that it cannot get ordinary people to accept its principles. The people have excellent political intuition, much more accurate than that of the "Moscow chiceria ".
Mischa Gabowitsch, author of the book "Putin kaputt !?" about the protests, Putin had been cautiously optimistic about a social upheaval in Russia before the steep rise in popularity ratings in connection with the annexation of Crimea .
See also
literature
- Mischa Gabowitsch: "Putin broken !?" , edition suhrkamp 05/2013, 438 pages, ISBN 978-3-518-12661-5
Web links
- Fabian Burkhardt, Jan Matti Dollbaum: Der Bolotnaja Prozess , in: Kurt Groenewold , Alexander Ignor, Arnd Koch (Ed.): Lexicon of Political Criminal Processes , online, as of April 2018.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Thousands protest in Russia against Putin NZZ Online. December 6, 2011
- ↑ Largest demonstration since the beginning of the Putin era , Zeit Online from December 10, 2011
- ↑ 100,000 protest against Putin's election fraud , Frankfurter Rundschau of December 10, 2011
- ↑ Tens of thousands take to the streets against Putin , Süddeutsche.de of December 10, 2011
- ↑ Tens of thousands of Russians are fighting for new elections. In: The world . Axel Springer Verlag , December 11, 2011, accessed on December 11, 2011 .
- ↑ Russia's Awakening , Spiegel Online, December 10, 2011
- ↑ Largest demonstrations since the end of the Soviet Union , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of December 10, 2011
- ^ A day in a state of emergency , Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung of December 11, 2011
- ^ A b Russian election protests , The Guardian, December 10, 2011
- ↑ Putin is dealing with a new Russia , WELT Online on December 11, 2011
- ^ After mass protests: Gorbachev calls for Putin's resignation on tagesschau.sf.tv, December 24, 2011 (accessed December 25, 2011).
- ↑ Protests in Russia: 20,000 Muscovites protest against the leadership at zeit.de, December 24, 2011 (accessed December 24, 2011).
- ↑ Putin Polarized in Euronews, February 5, 2012
- ↑ - ( Memento of the original from January 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ↑ 100,000 protest against Putin's election fraud , Frankfurter Rundschau of December 10, 2011
- ↑ Print of the road does not allow according to taz.de , December 7, 2011
- ^ Uprising against Putin , Frankfurter Rundschau of December 11, 2011
- ↑ Putin listens , NZZ Online from December 11, 2011
- ↑ Russian opposition will not get massive public support - Archpriest Vsevolod Chaplin RIA Novosti on May 24, 2012.
- ↑ «I was scared. Nevertheless, I thought to myself: I have to go there » , WOZ, January 23, 2014
