by Nina Achmatova

Thousands of people march in the center led by writers and poets. The police stands by watching. Experts say the authorities are convinced that the unrest wMill soon peter out, but they are hoping in vain. Perhaps it is "a revolution".

Moscow (AsiaNews) - They seemed to disappear after the victory of Vladimir Putin's March victory in the presidential ballot, which had sapped the enthusiasm of the opposition "for honest elections." They had also distanced themselves from prominent leaders of the anti-Putin after the violent clashes in Balotnaja square on 6 May. Instead, writers, musicians and intellectuals who this winter had founded the organization League of Voters, are back in the forefront with a demonstration on May 13 in Moscow attended by thousands of citizens, a week after Vladimir Vladimirovich's inauguration in the Kremlin.

No flags or political slogans, only white ribbons, a symbol of the so-called "revolution of snow," 10 thousand people - according to organizers estimates - two thousand for the police, marched for two miles "from one Alexander to another", as it was written on the Internet: the statue of the poet Alexander Pushkin, to that of another writer, Alexander Griboyedov, in Chistie Prudy park, for 7 home to the "Occupy Abay" camp for the past 7 days, a sort of Russian Zuccotti Park.

The "stroll" was convened on the Internet by Boris Akunin, author of bestselling thrillers, along with a group of Russian writers and poets. The aim was to claim the right to roam freely in the city, without risking jail, as was the case with the blogger Alexei Navalny. Navalny was sentenced to two weeks detention for taking part in the "sit-ins" that have flooded the streets of Moscow in the three days following the swearing in of Putin and which were forcefully dispersed by riot police.

Although the initiative was not agreed with the City of Moscow and the river of people who peacefully invaded the streets of the center has, at times, prevented the normal flow of traffic, this time the police only stood by watching. "The stroll - wrote the former Minister of Finance Alexei Kudrin, who also took part in protests last winter - is proof that protests can be peaceful. Everything depends on the authorities".

According to sociologist Olga Krishtanovskaja, a member of the ruling United Russia party, interviewed by Vedomosti newspaper, the authorities have gambled that the interest of society in the protests will soon vanish. But it is a vain hope. "The situation - she adds - has all the characteristics of the beginnings of a revolution."

 

• russia
• vladimir
• putin
• protest
• league
• of
• voters
• democracy