“Dissenters’ March”

This weekend the members of “Drugaya Rossiya” (The Other Russia) have organised two more protest marches, yestersay in Moscow in today in St.Petersburg. The first event was largely undermined by the police’s special forces (OMON). As a result, two of the organisers: Garry Kasparov and Alexander Ryklin (editor of the Online Daily Journal) were arrested and charged with breaching administrative norms and fined 1000 roubles (equivalent of $40).

Garry Kasparov
It is likely that the participants of the event scheduled for today in St.Petersburg will see a similar outcome. Reluctance of local administrations to grant permissions for such actions result in illegitimate protests, which then are met with force. What is surprising in this situation is that such displays of civil protest keep arising on a regular basis depsite the fact that they generate relative little publicity. Active social position of these people at times when all the power is centralized indicates growing concern with the current state of affairs among the city “intelligentsia”.

Realistically, the chances of anything being changed as a result of such protests is slim to none, but the timing of mounting dissatisfactions is crucial. It is less than one year before the new presidential elections. This to a large extent explains the paranoya such protests are causing among those in power.