In Moscow, tens of thousands turn out to protest Russian intervention in Ukraine (updated)

[ProSense]

Last edited Sat Mar 15, 2014, 12:13 PM - Edit history (1)

In Moscow, tens of thousands turn out to protest Russian intervention in Ukraine

By Will Englund

MOSCOW – Opposition to Russia’s intervention in Ukraine sparked an unexpectedly large protest march here Saturday, as tens of thousands of demonstrators waving Ukrainian, Russian and European Union flags chanted “No war!” and “Russia without Putin.”

They wore armbands and ribbons in the Ukrainian colors of blue and yellow, ribbons in Russia’s white, blue and red, and the plain white ribbons that were a hallmark of the large rallies against President Vladimir Putin that blossomed and then faltered in 2012.

Saturday’s protest revived many of the slogans and attitudes that first arose on the streets two years ago. But several of the opposition leaders of 2012 – including Alexei Navalny and Sergei Udaltsov – were missing, both under house arrest.

Members of the punk group Pussy Riot, released from prison earlier this year, did make an appearance.

- more -

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/europe/in-moscow-tens-of-thousands-turn-out-to-protest-russian-intervention-in-ukraine/2014/03/15/a3b35c34-caa3-49ee-9612-d6e883535eb8_story.html

Updated to add:

Ukraine crisis: Moscow rally opposes Crimea intervention

BBC's Richard Galpin in Moscow: "There has been a sense of anger and shame at the Kremlin"

Tens of thousands have joined a rally in the Russian capital Moscow to oppose its intervention in Ukraine, a day before Crimeans vote on whether to secede and join Russia.

Holding Russian and Ukrainian flags, they shouted: "The occupation of Crimea is Russia's disgrace." A smaller pro-Moscow rally was being held elsewhere.

<...>

Tens of thousands - possibly as many as 50,000 - attended the rally in Moscow to oppose the government's intervention in Crimea and eastern Ukraine.

- more -

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-26593249

There is video at the link.

[cilla4progress]

1. How can we send these freedom fighters

our support?

[dipsydoodle]

3. Catch a flight to Moscow.

Non return might be sufficient.

[dipsydoodle]

2. The "members" of Pussy Riot released from prison earlier this year

are no longer members of Pussy Riot. They just consider themselves to be so.

Nadezhda Tolokonnikova and Maria Alyokhina have insisted that they are still members of Pussy Riot, rejecting a recent letter, posted to the group’s official blog, which claimed that they had left the activist organisation.

“I don’t know who they are, these people who claim to be from Pussy Riot and write on social networks,” Tolokonnikova said at yesterday’s Berlin press conference. “We never left Pussy Riot.” In a separate interview with the New York Times, Alyokhina asserted that she and Tolokonnikova are “still in contact with ... the people we performed with” at Moscow’s Christ the Saviour Cathedral.

This response seems contrary to the open letter published on 6 February, which professed to be from Pussy Riot’s current membership. “It is no secret that Masha and Nadia are no longer members of the group, and will no longer take part in radical actionism,” they wrote. “Yes, we have lost two friends, two ideological teammates, but the world has acquired two brave human rights defenders ... Unfortunately we cannot congratulate them in person because they refuse to have any contact with us.

According to this letter, Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina’s appearance at an Amnesty International event in New York would never have been endorsed by the anti-Putin punks. “Our performances are always illegal,” they wrote. “We never sell tickets to our ‘shows’.” They also took offence to the advertising of the Amnesty gig, which included the image of a man wearing one of Pussy Riot’s distinctive balaclavas. “We are an all-female separatist collective – no man can represent us either on a poster or in reality.”

http://www.theguardian.com/music/2014/feb/11/nadezhda-tolokonnikova-maria-alyokhina-never-left-pussy-riot

[ProSense]

4. Does that mean the protest isn't happening? n/t

[dipsydoodle]

5. I referred only to the mention of ex-Pussy Riot members being present.

Aside from that reports from elsewhere, Japan for example , say c. 5000 : not tens of thousands.

Protest numbers are usually a bit spurious depending on who's reporting.

[warrior1]

6. twitter feed shows this

https://twitter.com/search?q=Russia%20without%20Putin&src=typd

[ProSense]

7. Thanks. n/t