topic: | Democracy |
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located: | Russia, China |
editor: | Igor Serebryany |
The Russian federal authorities are currently desperately trying to calm the massive anti-government protests which have been raging for a third week now in the regional capital of Khabarovsk, near the border with China.
Local residents have been protesting against the arrest of the popular governor Sergei Furgal, who is a rare kind of regional leader who does not belong within the pro-Kremlin United Russia party. Furgal won the governor's election two years ago, defeating the Kremlin-backed candidate. But in early July, he was arrested on charges of two murders committed in 2004. Furgal denies the allegations and calls his arrest and removal from office politically motivated.
The first days of the protests in Khabarovsk saw a relatively limited number of participants. But the spike happened when a Kremlin nominee Mikhail Degtyarev arrived in the city to replace ousted Furgal. The nomination outraged the people, who see the move as the complete silencing of their political choice.
Starting last week, the protests in Khabarovsk became a never-ending event, with the number of protestors sometimes reaching 65,000 – a record number to ever be reported in any Russian city outside Moscow. During the first rally, held on July 11, police reported that "only" 25,000 people were to attend.
As the protests continue, protestors have been gradually replacing "regional" demands with "nation-wide" ones, chanting "Russia, wake up" and "Putin must go."
It is getting increasingly obvious that the Kremlin has been hesitating, clearly lacking any idea of how to react to the massive rallies. This is the first time during the 20-year Putin rule that protests and protestors have no particular organisers behind them – be it an opposition leader who could be arrested or a party that could be dissolved. The protests in Khabarovsk have united the people with a very broad spectrum of political affiliation: liberals, nationalists, communists as well as politically neutral folks.
What unites them is a sense that the Kremlin doe not give a penny about their choice and opinion, says psychologist Ilia Latypov. "People are especially irritated with the coverage in the state-run mass media, which describes the people's protest as a "U.S. State Department conspiracy". That shows the Kremlin's paranoia and inability to cope with real-life challenges," he says.
What is even more frightening for the Kremlin is the fact that police in Khabarovsk make no attempts to break up the rallies. This is a troubling sign of possible "regionalization" among the elites, which the Kremlin can allow under no circumstances.
Ex-governor Sergei Furgal is a member of the ultra-nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), but his party affiliation has very little to do with the massive support he enjoys in Khabarovsk territory.
"People (in Khabarovsk) don't support LDPR as such. They distrust the ruling United Russia party and demonstrate it that way," Latypov explains.
He adds that most of the protesters are not concerned whether the accusations of murders against Furgal are real or fabricated. "People just feel Furgal as 'ours' and care little about his criminal past, if there is any."
Image by LoggaWiggler