RUSSIA/FILE: Opposition supporters gather near the Astrakhan regional representative office in Moscow to support a hunger strike in Astrakhan against mayor election results

Record ID: 340762

  • Title: RUSSIA/FILE: Opposition supporters gather near the Astrakhan regional representative office in Moscow to support a hunger strike in Astrakhan against mayor election results
  • Date: 10th April 2012
  • Summary: MOSCOW, RUSSIA (FILE - MARCH 2012) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF KREMLIN
  • Embargoed: 25th April 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Russian Federation
  • Country: Russia
  • Topics: Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVA7D0GZXU1Y976E5TDSYQDS16YX
  • Story Text: Russian opposition leaders gathered a crowd of dozens near the Astrakhan region representative office in central Moscow on Monday (April 9) to support the 19-person hunger strike in Astrakhan against the city's recent mayor elections.
    Oleg Shein, who ran for the Astrakhan mayor last month and lost, has been on hunger strike since March 15 along with his supporters demanding a rerun of the vote.
    Opposition leader and head of Left Front movement Sergei Udaltsov said he came to Astrakhan governor office in Moscow to express solidarity with Shein and his companions, who entered the 26th day of their hunger strike in Astrakhan.
    Demonstrations in big cities including Moscow, sparked by anger over allegations that fraud helped United Russia win a parliamentary poll in December, failed to prevent Vladimir Putin winning back the presidency but have removed his air of invincibility.
    Opposition leaders now hope to make their presence felt by winning local and regional elections and taking advantage of limited Kremlin reforms that will make it easier to register political parties in a concession to the protesters.
    Alexander Zhilkin, the governor of the Astrakhan region, has been criticised by the media for going on luxurious vacations to Italy during the time of the hunger strike, enhancing negative public resonance surrounding the case.
    The protesters took turns holding a single banner saying "People die in Astrakhan, Putin and Zhilkin are responsible!", while another opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who briefly joined the gathering, called for Zhilkin to act before it was too late.
    "I think that almost everything depends on the governor and Putin now. It's quite clear that he (the governor) was forbidden to help the ones on hunger strike and to meet their legal demands. By the way, their demands are not unrealistic, all they ask for is to get access to the videos from all polling stations. Those videos have mysteriously disappeared, they were erased by swindlers and thieves, to falsify the elections," Nemtsov said.
    Waiting for a city representative to come out and explain the situation, Udaltsov encouraged the picketing crowd wearing white ribbons as the symbol of popular anti-government protests to enter a solidarity hunger strike in Moscow. Udaltsov called Shein on the phone during the action and told him that people in Moscow would join him in the strike.
    "We have six people here, who are ready to start a hunger strike in solidarity with you. This is their decision, I don't think there is any sense in talking them out of it," he said speaking to Shein on the phone, standing by the office's steel entrance door, which never opened to the crowd.
    While the Moscow protesters agreed to come to the site every day at the same time (1100 GMT) until Shein's request is granted by the authorities, four people joined the strike in Astrakhan.
    The strikers have been changing throughout the campaign with volunteers replacing those who had to quit due to health reasons.
    Before going on strike Shein addressed the public via Youtube asking for their support.
    "Today we need your public support, because no law in our country will work if we don't have the power of public opinion. That is why I am addressing all those who are fighting for freedom, who want to live in a free country, who want to build their own future themselves, to support our actions and to help us (spread) the information," he said addressing Internet audience.
    Leader of "A Just Russia" party, who nominated Shein as their candidate at Astrakhan elections, said the party was waiting for the Russian government reaction.
    "Oleg (Shein) and his comrades are holding in. But we understand that this could not last forever. We are waiting for the reaction from the Russian authorities on the highest level," Sergei Mironov, leader of 'A Just Russia' told Reuters.
    Shein, whose health conditions were brought to attention by a visiting Moscow doctor Yelizaveta Glinka, says that regardless of his heart problems, he won't quit. He told Reuters that despite hard conditions he was optimistic about the outcome of the hunger strike, because many people in his city supported their action.
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