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."