Scenes from the Rally For an Honest Government in St. Petersburg, Russia
On January 15, the Rally For an Honest Government was held in my home city of St. Petersburg. Originally, it was supposed to be part of a nation-wide series of rallies that were supposed to take place after the verdicts for navalny and his brother were announced. (The brothers are anti-corruption activists who were accused - and ultimately convicted of fraud. You can read more about the whole thing here.) But the verdict was moved to December 30 at the last moment. People still held rallies on that day - they were just unsanctioned and more hastily put together (The St. Petersburg rally ended peacefully. The Moscow rally ended with arrests).
But people decided to do something on January 15 anyway. And so, the Rally For an Honest Government was born. After some negotiations with St. Petersburg municipal government, they got a permit to hold the rally at the Field of Mars.
According to Bumaga online newspaper, around 1,000-1,5000 people attended. There were 10 speakers - all opposition figures, that called for discussion of Putin's policies, Navalnys' conviction and, on a local side, the recent controversy that erupted when Deputy Governor of St. Petersburg area told citizens complaining about unshoveled streets to go out and shovel them themselves.
Here are some photos of the rally from Instagram accounts Bumaga article linked to.
A photo posted by ohray (@ohray) on Jan 15, 2015 at 8:14am PST
A photo posted by @kembrick on Jan 15, 2015 at 8:19am PST
The poster in the photo below says: "after 15 years of [fossil fuel based economy], everything went to shit. Dying villages, poverty, high housing prices, no free healthcare, no justice..."
A photo posted by @kembrick on Jan 15, 2015 at 8:19am PST
"Freedom for the innocent!"
A photo posted by @kofa_joh on Jan 15, 2015 at 8:19am PST
Since I started posting this, two of the Instagram accounts Bumaga linked to were deleted. So I'm going to use the copies from the article.
"Yesterday|Today|Tomorrow."
From Twitter
By all accounts, the rally was peaceful, and it ended without incident - though there were "young people" who tried to incite trouble by insulting Navalny and other opposition figures.
But people decided to do something on January 15 anyway. And so, the Rally For an Honest Government was born. After some negotiations with St. Petersburg municipal government, they got a permit to hold the rally at the Field of Mars.
According to Bumaga online newspaper, around 1,000-1,5000 people attended. There were 10 speakers - all opposition figures, that called for discussion of Putin's policies, Navalnys' conviction and, on a local side, the recent controversy that erupted when Deputy Governor of St. Petersburg area told citizens complaining about unshoveled streets to go out and shovel them themselves.
Here are some photos of the rally from Instagram accounts Bumaga article linked to.
A photo posted by ohray (@ohray) on Jan 15, 2015 at 8:14am PST
A photo posted by @kembrick on Jan 15, 2015 at 8:19am PST
The poster in the photo below says: "after 15 years of [fossil fuel based economy], everything went to shit. Dying villages, poverty, high housing prices, no free healthcare, no justice..."
A photo posted by @kembrick on Jan 15, 2015 at 8:19am PST
"Freedom for the innocent!"
A photo posted by @kofa_joh on Jan 15, 2015 at 8:19am PST
Since I started posting this, two of the Instagram accounts Bumaga linked to were deleted. So I'm going to use the copies from the article.
"Yesterday|Today|Tomorrow."
From Twitter
By all accounts, the rally was peaceful, and it ended without incident - though there were "young people" who tried to incite trouble by insulting Navalny and other opposition figures.