Moscow (dpa) – Vladimir Vorobyev knows that protesting against Vladimir Putin is not the safest thing to do in Russia. But Vorobyev, a historian and father of two, said he has no other choice after Sunday's presidential election, which was criticized by international monitors as having been skewed in favor of the prime minister, who won the poll. “We must come out and show that we are against election falsification. Not to do that is just to lie down, to be a sheep. We want to build our country ourselves, not be told how things are going to be,” Vorobyev told dpa. The 43-year-old was one of some 20,000 opposition activists who gathered in Moscow's Pushkin Square on Monday to protest Putin's return to the Kremlin. “Putin out!”, “No more Putin!”, “Free the Kremlin!” shouted the protesters, who were screened through metal detectors before they were allowed into the square. Some 2,000 riot police were present. A police helicopter flew overhead. In his victory speech, Putin said his opponents were slowing Russia's economic growth and hinted that some were paid by Western nations to protest his return to a third presidential term. His remarks were not shared by the protesters, who believe they are taking a stand against an authoritarian government. “I think the authorities are more afraid than they show,” said Stanislav Tikhonov, a government office worker. “They say the opposition rallies are meaningless, but then tell me, why all the police? Why all the tanks and lorries and helicopters? We are no foreign army. This is our country, and no one can take it from us.” More than a few protesters said they had come to the rally less to support any particular opposition politician, as to voice their dissatisfaction with Putin's victory. A review made public by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe on Monday said the election was heavily skewed in Putin's favor by docile state media and government crackdowns on his opponents. “There are lots of kinds of people here, but the most common ones are the intellectual class. We are the ones who know what the authorities are capable of in the past, and it is up to us to take the steps necessary to show others how to resist,” Tikhonov said. Some protesters had more specific issues with the Putin government. “I was an election monitor at one of the Moscow voting stations. I saw with my own eyes the falsification, it was at least 10 per cent,” said Ulya Kasha, 23, a student at Moscow State University. “Why should I just accept it? Why should we allow those people to decide everything for themselves? Are they better than us? Smarter? More cultured? I can think for myself. I don't need their help.” Kasha waved a cardboard placard reading, “Now we will make the little pigs run”, with a cartoon rodent drawn to resemble Putin. She said she didn't care whether doing that might get her in trouble. Vladimir Perevershin, 43, said he was at the rally because he is a former manager with the Yukos energy company, which Putin's government dissolved. Yukos' former owner Mikhail Khodorkovsky was sentenced to 14 years in jail on fraud charges. “I am here because there is no other place for me. I went to jail for seven years because I worked for Yukos, and now that I am out, I am going to stand up for myself. They took away my freedom but they won't silence me,” he said. Most of the crowd dispersed peacefully after the rally ended, but about 1,000 people ignored police orders to go home, saying they intended to stay. However, police arrested more than 100 protesters and managed to clear the square. “We refuse to yield,” Kasha said. “There will be more protests.” BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/h8Ze2 Tags: Moscow, Protest, Putin, Russia Section: Europe, Latest News
