Another Day In Omerica

Several thousand people protested in central Moscow on Monday against what they said was a fraudulent parliamentary election, shouting “Revolution!” and calling for an end to Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s rule. The protest, a day after an election in which Russians sharply reduced the parliamentary majority held by Putin’s United Russia party, appeared to be one of the biggest opposition demonstrations in Russia in years. Police said they arrested 300 people including prominent activist Ilya Yashin and opposition blogger Alexei Navalny after the protesters marched towards the Lubyanka Square that houses the feared FSB security service. The observers said there had been “serious indications of ballot box stuffing” in a harsh verdict on the election that suggested United Russia could have suffered an even bigger decline in support if the voting had been completely fair. Around 250 were remained detained by Tuesday morning.

Potesters initially gathered in the rain on a tree-lined boulevard where they had permission for a rally. They denounced the vote as shameful and shouted “Russia without Putin!” Many protesters then tried to march out onto a major street and were confronted by a chain of police officers who locked elbows and divided the surging crowd into two parts. Navalny has won a huge following on the Internet for exposing corruption at state-owned firms and he coined the phrase, which has now been taken up by all the opposition, “swindlers and thieves” to describe United Russia. The result was Putin’s worst election setback since he came to power 12 years ago and signaled growing weariness with his domination of Russian politics as he prepares to reclaim the presidency in an election next March. President Dmitry Medvedev said Sunday’s election was “fair, Read more