04 November 2006, 22:58
"Russian March" was rather peaceful in Russia
The first city of Russia to hold the "Russian March" on November 4 was Vladivostok, where about 300 persons (by other sources - less than 200, - KN's note) took part in a non-sanctioned march along the sidewalk of the central street of the city, faces of many of the demonstrators were hidden by scarves. The participants of the march carried flags of the "Russian Club," "Slavic Union," Movement Against Illegal Immigration, the Russian State Banner and the posters: "Russian Order - to Russian Land," "Take Lessons from Minin and Pozharskiy," "If Necessary, We'll Repeat Year 1612," "Not Integration But Deportation." Activists cried out the slogans: "Praise to Russia," "Russian is Master of Russian Land."
The "Interfax" reports that as a whole the action passed peacefully. The demonstrators were accompanied by some 50 militiamen. Nobody was detained.
The next city to "switch into" the action conceived by the organizers as the all-Russian event was Blagoveschensk. There, on Saturday, militia did not admit to hold the non-sanctioned "Russian March." No more than ten persons came to take part. As a result of militia's attempt of to disperse the participants, two representatives of the organization "Union of Russian People" were detained.
The forbidden "Russian March" in Chita was attended by no more than a hundred supporters out of five hundred persons declared by the organizers.
In Irkutsk, the march was authorized by the authorities and involved about 200 persons. The order during the action was maintained by about 600 militiamen from detachments of Irkutsk and the Regional Department of Internal Affairs (GUVD) and representatives of the organizers of the march who had undergone a special briefing; 300 militiamen more were ready to interfere in case of provocations.
Krasnoyarsk has "registered itself" by detention of 33 public order offenders. According to the Territorial GUVD, about 100 persons rallied in the local Red Square and made an attempt to march over into the neighbouring street, but they were stopped by militia.
The Novosibirsk Office of Public Prosecutor informs that three organizers of the march from among local residents can be brought to administrative responsibility for the non-sanctioned march held in the city, among whom - Alexander Lyulko, deputy of Novosibirsk City Council. The meeting itself passed without excesses; however, about 20 participants of the action were invited by militia to give explanations.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MIA) of the Republic of Adygea reports that on November 4, a march was held in Maikop organized by the "Union of Slavs of Adygea," which was also attended by the activists of the "Russian March" from Krasnodar, where local authorities had banned the meeting. In total, the action involved about 150 persons. On the part of the law enforcement bodies, the order was maintained by about 500 employees of local militia.
In Moscow, despite all the earlier multiple declarations of the authorities on the ban of any marches, the "Russian March," nevertheless, took place. According to Dmitri Rogozin, a deputy of the State Duma, militia has detained about 300 persons. According to the "Interfax," well before the start of the meeting, journalists had been detained: video group of the "Ren-TV" and Ilya Barabanov, correspondent of the "Gazeta.Ru."
In St. Petersburg, meanwhile, the "Russian March" was over right after its start: about midday Moscow time some 50 members of the Movement Against Illegal Immigration were detained in the vicinity of Culture Palace of the "Oktiabrskiy Plant." Almost an hour later, OMON (Special Militia) dispersed by means tear gas a fight launched near the Fontanka River by activists of the "Russian March" and anti-fascists.
In Stavropol, according to Vladimir Nesterov, head of the "Union of Slavic Communities of Stavropol Territory," the march organized within the framework of the "Russian March" action on Saturday was attended by about 5000 persons.
The "Russian March" held in Kaliningrad was also far from being massed, according the "Interfax," the participants counted about 30 persons.
Thus, we can state that the Day of National Unity in Russia passes rather peacefully and quietly, which basically meets the earlier forecasts, the NEWSru.com reports.