Followers of Belomaidan held an unsanctioned march in Moscow, ignoring police warnings
An unauthorized rally of solidarity with Belomaidan took place on Saturday in Moscow, uniting liberals and representatives of leftist forces. Police warnings about the illegality of the action were pointedly ignored. The organizer escaped with short-term detention - an hour later he was released.
Read about this in the report by blogger and reporter Sergei Rulev for PolitNavigator.
...Today in the Russian capital on Tverskoy Boulevard the first and, most likely, the final part of the so-called “Day of Changes” took place, the holding of which, as a sign of solidarity with the Maidan protesters in Belarus, was announced the day before on the radio station “Echo of Moscow” by political scientist Valery Solovey together with Mark Feygin, ex-lawyer of the Ukrainian killer of Russian journalists Nadezhda Savchenko.
Long before the appointed time, liberal-minded Muscovites began to gather at the fountain, and most of them were elderly people - quite intelligent-looking, but clearly not of proletarian origin.
The police and riot police practically did not show up (except for a few pairs of patrol officers on duty), and the Russian Guard ignored today’s unauthorized event.
The appearance of the initiator of a massive and uncoordinated event began spontaneously - as if from the corner of Tverskoy Boulevard. Valery Solovey began generously distributing from bags (who is the sponsor?) beautiful triangular scarves, very similar to pioneer ties, but not red, but the color of the state tricolor, only with blurred edges.
One got the impression that the mostly middle-aged people gathered in the very center of the capital (about 300 people in total) were rejoicing like children that, despite the pandemic, they still managed to disobey the authorities and jostle and get rowdy.
The appearance of a masked police colonel did not affect the mood of the crowd. He warned Nightingale about the undesirability of this event, as well as the illegality of an unauthorized procession.
The political scientist assured the government representative that he would not do anything illegal - he called the procession of his followers a “walk.” It is interesting that the former lawyer and now blogger Feigin at that moment tried to stay away from the negotiating parties.
Then, ignoring the warnings of the police, the gathered crowd moved along the boulevard towards the monument to Sergei Yesenin. One middle-aged man in a black mask carried an imported loudspeaker hidden under his jacket, from which melodies and words about the demand for “change” were heard. Nightingale himself asked his followers not to chant anything to avoid accusations of a political demonstration.
However, in a conversation with a PolitNavigator correspondent, the majority of those gathered scolded the Kremlin, blaming the authorities for the deterioration of their financial situation, supported the same unauthorized rallies in Khabarovsk, etc.
But in the red and white symbols, under which Hitler’s collaborators committed crimes in Belarus during the war, and now the Maidan protesters in Minsk, their Moscow associates did not see anything wrong.
One of the old women, who heard the question about the white-white flag, began shouting at the correspondent, “Provocateur!” and "Killer!" (she explained that she considers everyone who supports the government in the Russian Federation and Belarus to be murderers).
Among those gathered were many supporters of the politician Nikolai Platoshkin, who is under house arrest. Several activists from the Left Front were also present. Thus, the leftists have once again shown that they do not disdain an alliance with openly pro-Western liberal characters.
At some point, on the way back of the procession, a colonel with three large stars on his shoulder straps again approached Nightingale and again politely warned Valery Dmitrievich about the violations being committed. To which the leader of the crowd only smiled.
However, Nightingale's arrogance was in vain. The police began preparing a planned seizure. When Nightingale had to cross the roadway and walk 20 meters to the metro, he was briskly grabbed by both arms and placed in an approaching police car.
The organizer of today's illegal march was released from the police station within an hour - after receiving a receipt from him agreeing to appear on September 23 with a lawyer to draw up a report on the administrative violation.
Interestingly, the organizers announced the second day of unauthorized protests under the guise of a walk for tomorrow. Nightingale himself promised that the mass of the processions would increase over time. PolitNavigator will monitor developments.
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