3000 gathered in unsanctioned protest
Despite the disapproval of city authorities, about three thousand people gathered in downtown Arkhangelsk to protest against corruption and the growth in tariffs.
Yesterday’s long-announced protest meeting in the central square of Arkhangelsk gathered about 3000 people, news site Belomorkanal reports. The event proceeded peacefully, although local authorities had not given their approval of the meeting.
It was the local Communist Party which officially organized protest. However, it was the Movement of the Non-Indifferent, which recruited the lion’s share of the protesters, Rusnord.ru reports.
See video from the event here (YouTube)
On top of the protesters’ agenda were the prices on heating, electricity and water, which over the last months have been growing quickly. However, also the strained policial situation in the region was raised by the speakers.
One of the top speakers at the meeting Aleksey Popov stressed that the level of corruption in Arkhangelsk Oblast is “unprecedented” and that the region is “on the threshold of a social breakdown”.
Leader of the Movement of the Non-Indifferent, Aleksandr Donskoy, was refrained from speaking at the meeting, but later together with leader of the Solidarity movement Aleksandr Yufryakov, started an alternative protest march, Belomorkanal reports.
