Demonstrations and rallies in Russian cities

December 10 is a day of demonstrations for Russians to express their attitude toward December 4 parliamentary elections. A public protest was held on Korabelnaya embankment in Vladivostok in Russia’s Far East on Saturday.

Police in Vladivostok said about 150 people gathered for the authorized protests but organizers said there were 450 and the protesters themselves spoke of 1,500.

Protesters signed a petition demanding cancellation of election results at all polling stations where vote rigging was uncovered, sacking the head of the Russian Central Election Commission and disbanding polling stations where violations were registered.

A protest organizer, Yury Kuchin, said the Vladivostok action was not a political but a public event that brought together people of various views and convictions who unanimously oppose what they say is a stolen election.

In the Far Eastern city of Khabarovsk, at least 50 people - left-wing leaders and their supporters - organized an unauthorized protest action that was broken up by police ten minutes later. Before the protests began, beefed up police forces appeared on the square. Their chief told protesters they were violating the law and asked them to leave the place within ten minutes. But the demonstrators stayed. At least ten of them had their mouths taped shut.

Police in Chita in Siberia detained three people for distributing anti-government leaflets. About 200 people attended unauthorized protests in the city against the Duma elections outcome.

Unauthorized protests against the Duma elections ended without incident in Ulan-Ude, the capital of the Buryatia republic in southern Siberia. Protesters said they would repeat the action in a week’s time and urged people in Moscow to do the same.

Police in the Buryatia said that “not counting passersby and journalists, the number of protesters was about 50.” The protesters said that at least 200 people were there.

Several hundred people took part in unauthorized protests in Krasnoyarsk. Organizers said at least 700 people came to the demonstration.

Only about 1,000 people instead of the promised 9,000 gathered in Barnaul in the Altai Republic in western Siberia on Saturday for unauthorized protests against Sunday’s elections to the Duma and the local legislature. Local police said students and public organizations representatives took part in the event.

Some protesters had their mouths taped shut to show that their votes had been stolen.

About 50 people attended unauthorized protests in Gorno-Altaisk, the capital of the Altai Republic in western Siberia, organizers said.

Protests “For Fair Elections” in Novokuznetsk in western Siberia.

Protests “For Fair Elections” in Novosibirsk in Siberia.