RUSSIA: Russian nationalists march in Moscow, waving "white pride" flags and calling for curbs on immigration

Record ID: 214080

  • Title: RUSSIA: Russian nationalists march in Moscow, waving "white pride" flags and calling for curbs on immigration
  • Date: 4th November 2013
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (NOVEMBER 4, 2013) (REUTERS) NATIONALIST RALLY PARTICIPANTS MARCHING AND CHANTING IN RUSSIAN 'GLORY TO THE NATION, DEATH TO ENEMIES!' BEHIND A BANNER READING IN RUSSIAN 'SEIZE AND SHARE' MARCHERS CHANTING IN RUSSIAN 'NATION, MOTHERLAND, SOCIALISM!' FLAGS FLUTTERING IN WIND MAN BEATING DRUM AND PEOPLE CHANTING IN RUSSIAN 'RUSSIANS FORWARD!' VARIOUS OF PEOPLE WITH BLACK FLAGS CHANTING 'NATIONAL SOCIALISM' MAN WITH BULLHORN, THEN CROWD CHANTING, 'HANG THE BOURGEOISIE, ARM THE WORKERS!' PAN OF PEOPLE STANDING WITH FLAGS AND BANNERS CHANTING 'WE WANT A REVOLUTION!' POLICEMAN WATCHING VARIOUS OF PEOPLE MARCHING HELICOPTER PATROLLING IN SKY VARIOUS OF MARCHERS STANDING BEHIND BANNER, FLAG READING IN ENGLISH 'WHITE PRIDE WORLD WIDE' WAVING CROWD WITH FLAGS WAVING (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) COSSACK, YEVGENY SMIRNOV, SAYING: "Already here in Moscow, Muslim villages and Central Asian villages have been built, and there are mosques and guttural noises and shouts. It's a Russian city. A Russian city created by Russian people over thousands of years. So the country should belong to the people for whom it was formed." POLICEMEN BEHIND BARRICADES (SOUNDBITE) (Russian) MARCH ORGANIZER ALEXANDER BELOV, SAYING: "Our goal today is to announce 14 political demands. They concern our views on the organisation of the Russian Federation. It bothers us that today national republics and national border regions have more rights than Russians. We want everyone to have equal rights. Russia must become a unitary state, like France. Our second point concerns illegal immigration." GIRLS DRUMMING BAND MARCHING BY VARIOUS OF END OF MARCH VARIOUS OF TSARIST RUSSIAN MARCH IN PROGRESS PEOPLE CHANTING 'ONE FOR ALL AND ALL FOR ONE!' MILITARY BAND MARCHING BY MARCHERS' BOOTS VARIOUS OF POLICEMAN LEADING AWAY MAN TO POLICE VAN POLICEMAN PUTTING DETAINEE INTO VAN
  • Embargoed: 19th November 2013 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Reuters ID: LVA996HD3ODSSD5AOPP53P0KFWF5
  • Story Text: Thousands of Russian nationalists rallied across Russia on Monday (November 4), signifying the growing strength of the country's far-right political forces galvanised by an anti-immigrant agenda.
    In Moscow, police said around 8,000 people joined a march in which people waved flags and chanted anti-immigrant slogans.
    The marches are held annually on a patriotic-themed holiday that commemorates an uprising in 1612 that liberated Moscow from Polish invaders. But the holiday has been adopted by hard-line nationalists who use the occasion to hold annual rallies known as "Russian Marches."
    Monday's march comes less than a month after riots erupted in a Moscow suburb over a stabbing death blamed on a Central Asian immigrant.
    Rally participant Yevgeny Smirnov, who was dressed in a Cossack uniform, said the influx of immigrants was hurting Russia.
    "Already here in Moscow, Muslim villages and Central Asian villages have been built, and there are mosques and guttural noises and shouts. It's a Russian city. A Russian city created by Russian people over thousands of years. So the country should belong to the people for whom it was formed," Smirnov said.
    Police said they arrested around 30 marchers for wearing masks or forbidden Nazi symbols, and other minor public order offences, but no serious disturbances were reported.
    Many of those marching in Moscow were waving black, yellow and white flags, the old monarchist flag of the Romanov dynasty, that has in recent years been adopted as a nationalist symbol.
    Others carried religious icons, or pictures of the last Romanov Tsar Nicholas I and his family, executed by Bolshevik revolutionaries in 1918.
    Still others called for forcefully taking from the rich and dividing their wealth, and chanted "Hang the bourgeoisie, arm the workers!".
    Many carried banners and placards with slogans such as "White Power", and "Russia for the Russians" - that highlighted the race and immigration issues that are at the forefront of nationalists' concerns.
    March organiser Alexander Belov said Russians were increasingly losing ground to both external immigrants and those from Russia's myriad regions.
    He said he hoped the march would show Russian authorities it was necessary to change.
    "Our goal today is to announce 14 political demands. They concern our views on the organisation of the Russian Federation. It bothers us that today national republics and national border regions have more rights than Russians. We want everyone to have equal rights. Russia must become a unitary state, like France. Our second point concerns illegal immigration," Belov said.
    A recent survey by the Levada Centre polling agency, taken on the eve of Moscow's mayoral election in September, showed that immigration topped voters' concerns. More than half of respondents said it worried them more than any other problem.
    President Putin has repeatedly called for tolerance of minority races and religions. As the head of patchwork state with multiple religions and ethnicities, he can ill-afford any escalation in racial tensions.
    However, in a bid to head-off the nationalists' rising appeal - and mobilise public support behind the government - the Russian authorities have also adopted elements of the nationalist agenda.
    For example, the federal and regional governments have recently been cracking down on use of illegal immigrant labour, notably in construction and outdoor markets.
    Critics fear that this response may reinforce negative anti-immigrant stereotypes and fuel ethnic tensions further.
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