Hundreds Protest in Russia Against “The Rule of Thieves”
Protest in Moscow (telegraph.co.uk)
About 500 people demonstrated in central Moscow Square against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin and his “regime of thieves,” demanding the Kremlin leader’s ouster.
Though it was a peaceful rally, about 20 opposition activists operating separately were retained by police, while 60 protesters were arrested in Sankt Petersburg for the same reason.
Boris Nemtsov, prominent opposition leader who had been jailed for 15 days a month ago for protests against the prime minister continued his attack on him by comparing him to Hosni Mubarak, who faces a true revolution after 30 years of unchallenged rule.
Protests in Moscow (life.com)
“How is Putin’s rule different from that of Mubarak?” Nemtsov asked rhetorically, concluding that the prime minister had to go.
The opposition leader has accused Putin of building an impressive personal fortune at the expense of the average Russians and of allowing corruption to infest the structures of state power.
Another thing he is accused of is the that he has taken away the freedoms won in the 1990s.
Hundreds of police were massed in the square on Monday but they allowed the people to go home as soon as the hour long protest was over with the slogan “Down with the rule of thieves!”
The protest in Sankt Petersburg did not have any authorization, which gave the police’s spokesman a reason to explain the arrests.11
