- Title: Russian opposition marches in Moscow
- Date: 31st August 2019
- Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (AUGUST 31, 2019) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING PROTESTERS CARRYING BANNERS VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) STUDENT, ALEXANDER YAKOVLEV, SAYING: "It can affect anyone. I came here because I think that these cases (against protesters) are politically motivated. I think they have been falsified, I have no doubt about that." RUSSIAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN LYUBOV SOBOL FILMING HERSELF ON MOBILE PHONE, WALKING AWAY VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) RUSSIAN OPPOSITION POLITICIAN, LYUBOV SOBOL, SAYING: "We have the right to have our candidates to vote for. Let the Moscow residents decide who wins, and who has more power in the city parliament, who forms fractions, who has the majority. They are afraid of it as well as they are afraid that the myth about only one percent supporting opposition can be shattered." POLICE SERVICEWOMAN ANNOUNCING THAT RALLY IS NOT AUTHORISED MEDIA (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) STUDENT, ALEXANDER STEPANOV, SAYING: "I came here because the lawlessness of Putin's regime in Russia has reached its peak. The flywheel of repression is spinning at incredible speed now." VARIOUS OF PROTESTERS MARCHING, CHANTING
- Embargoed: 14th September 2019 13:51
- Keywords: Russia protest elections Lyubov Sobol Russian protests opposition protests voxpops protesters
- Location: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- City: MOSCOW, RUSSIA
- Country: Russia
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001AUJT7WN
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Thousands of Russians took to the streets of central Moscow on Saturday (August 31) to demand free elections to the capital's city legislature on Sept. 8, defying a ban which has been enforced with violent detentions during previous protests.
Weeks of demonstrations over elections for the city legislature have turned into the biggest sustained protest movement in Russia since 2011-2013, when protesters took to the streets against perceived electoral fraud.
Chanting "Russia will be free!" and "This is our city!," up to 2,000 protesters marched through one of Moscow's thoroughfares.
The demonstrators have been demanding that opposition-minded candidates be allowed to stand in the election after they were prevented from being put on the ballot. Protesters are now also calling for the release of activists detained over earlier rallies.
Saturday's protest, the last before the vote, was smaller than some of the previous ones attended by tens of thousands of people. During the first hour of the rally, police made no attempt to detain protesters but asked them through loudspeakers to disperse.
(Production: Alexey Novik, Lev Sergeyev, Maria Tsvetkova, Dmitry Turlyun) - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
- Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2019. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
- Usage Terms/Restrictions: None