Sea of people fills Moscow in search of 'free Russia'

MOSCOW - Agence France-Presse

Protesters gather to protest against alleged vote rigging in Russia's parliamentary elections on Sakharov avenue in Moscow, Russia, Saturday, Dec. 24, 2011 with the words on the stage read as "for Fair Elections" and "Russia will be free". AP Photo

Clutching white balloons and banners calling for "Free Elections", a sea of Russian protestors against Vladimir Putin on Saturday thronged a Moscow avenue named after dissident Andrei Sakharov.

    The rally to oppose Prime Minister Putin's tight grip on Russia's political system passed amid a festive atmosphere, with guest appearances by a famous socialite, a former chess champion and even Father Christmas.

    But there was no doubting the seriousness of the huge crowd, who called for the annulment of parliamentary elections held this month and proclaimed on banners that "We awoke and this is only the beginning".

    The mass of people extended all the way down Moscow's Sakharov Avenue -- named after the Soviet nuclear physicist turned dissident -- and for hours they peacefully listened to an unexpectedly diverse range of speakers.

    Addressing them from a giant stage were former finance minister Alexei Kudrin, glamorous socialite Xenia Sobchak, former chess champion Garry Kasparov, anti-Kremlin blogger Alexei Navalny and novelist Boris Akunin.

    At the end, a speaker dressed as Father Christmas, known to Russians as Grandfather Frost, appeared, rousing the crowds with slogans such as "Russia without Putin" and declaring that next year there would be a "Free Russia".

    Despite the winter chill, the crowd was energised.

    "We have understood that we can mobilise. It is impossible to stop a crowd like this," said Andrei Luzhin, 32, one of the protestors.

    Two weeks earlier, the opposition had succeeded in holding their first mass protest at a location close to the Kremlin in the biggest show of public discontent in Russia since the turbulent 1990s.

    "People were scared before the first big demonstration on December 10. Now they no longer have fear," Luzhin added.

    Provocatively, some protestors held up pictures of Putin with a giant condom draped over his head in the style of an Egyptian pharaoh, in reference to his sneering dismissal of the rallies as resembling an anti-AIDS campaign.

    "Putin resign! Russia without Putin," the crowds chanted using slogans that would have been impossible without fear of arrest just weeks before.

"In our country people are scared of saying what they think," said another protestor, Olga Dolgacheva, 32. "But the future belongs to those who get up early. That is why I am here."

    Akunin -- a novelist prominent abroad for his 19th century historical detective novels -- asked the rally: "Do you want Vladimir Putin to become president once again?"

    "No," the protesters roared backed.

    "Mr. Putin, the entire Russia will be crying this out to you tomorrow," said Akunin, author of works including the "Winter Queen".

    Chess master Kasparov, one of Putin's most virulent critics in recent years, said that the presidential elections of March 4, where Putin intends to stand, would mark a "turning point" in Russian history.
    "The authorities are scared because we are no longer scared," he said.

    After the speeches, protestors warmed themselves with tea and listened on loudspeaker to the tunes of alternative rock music that has been beloved by dissident Russians going back to Soviet times.

    Police boasted that they had ensured security and said there were no arrests -- a stark contrast to the crackdowns against almost every single opposition demonstration in Moscow until this month.