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Demonstrations Mark May Day in Russia NewsMax.com Wires MOSCOW -- Hundreds of thousands of Russians hit the streets Tuesday as an array of political forces held marches and rallies on May Day, a holiday that was of great importance in the Soviet era and is still marked with demonstrations in cities nationwide. In a sign of the Kremlin's dominance of politics and society under President Vladimir Putin, the largest gathering was apparently a march and rally in downtown Moscow led by the loyal United Russia party and the government-approved trade union organization. Organizers said some 25,000 people participated. Thousands also turned out for a Communist Party demonstration, marching from a square adorned by a statue of Bolshevik Revolutionary leader Vladimir Lenin to one that features a bust of Karl Marx. Police put their number at more than 5,000. Several hundred Kremlin critics and human rights activists participated in a march organized by the liberal opposition party Yabloko near the headquarters of the Federal Security Service, the main successor of the Soviet KGB. Law enforcement authorities sent thousands of officers into the streets and mounted a large presence for the gathering, which followed harsh police crackdowns on opposition demonstrations in Moscow and St. Petersburg two weeks ago, but no violence occurred. Ultranationalists also held a separate demonstration, as did flamboyant politician Vladimir Zhirinovsky's Liberal Democratic Party of Russia and Just Russia, a new party led by Putin supporter Sergei Mironov, the speaker of the upper parliament house, Russian media reported. During the Soviet era, the government held a massive parade on Red Square every year on May Day, an international holiday celebrating workers. Story Continues Below
Following the 1991 Soviet collapse, Communists mounted major anti-government demonstrations on May Day, but their numbers have dwindled in recent years. United Russia, meanwhile, has used its influence to bring out large crowds. Marches and demonstrations were held in cities across Russia, and political leaders may have been using the Moscow rallies to gauge support and make their voices heard as December parliamentary elections draw closer. Many Russians, however, ignored politics during the long May Day weekend, taking advantage of the holiday to spend time with family and friends and to catch up on household chores or garden work.
© 2007 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Editor's note: Read more on this subject in related Hot Topics:
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