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Thousands rally in Yekaterinburg in support of working people

Some 14,000 workers from the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions and Perm rallied in action
Photo ITAR-TASS
Photo ITAR-TASS

YEKATERINBURG, January 28 (Itar-Tass) — Some 14,000 workers from the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions and Perm rallied in Yekaterinburg on Saturday, January 28, in support of the working people.

Their main slogans were “For the Urals! For Stability!”, “Development of the Urals is Development of Our Country!” and “We are the people!”

“In early January I spoke in support of stability in our country and policy pursued by Prime Minister Vladimir Putin. After that people in the Urals were called the lemming. We demand that the working people be protected from insults. We do not want to go back to the 1990s when factories stood still and no wages were paid for months on end. Working people in the Urals, the backbone of our country, vote for economic stability in the country and for a strong resident,” Igor Kholmanskikh of the Uralvagonzavod research and production association told Itar-Tass.

“The people of Magnitogorsk join Sverdlovsk’s workers and the movement of the working people of Russia. We make steel, other products and provide for the country’s vital needs. We are against those who think of us as savages. We have a voice and we are raising today,” Igor Makagarov of the Magnitogorsk Metallurgical Plant said.

MP Valery Trapeznikov, elected to the State Duma from the Perm Territory, made an emotional speech and then chanted “Workers, Russia, Putin” from the podium for about five minutes.

Entrepreneurs joined the workers. Yevgeny Artyukh of the regional public organisation of small and medium-sized businesses, said the majority of entrepreneurs worked at industrial enterprises for a long time and know workers’ problems from firsthand experience.

Artyukh said entrepreneurs, just like workers, choose stability in the country and will not allow “a return to the troubled 1990s”.

At the end of the 30-minute rally, Andrei Vetluzhskih, chairman of the Sverdlovsk Region Federation of Trade Unions, read out a resolution.

“We stand for stability in the country and for a strong economy, for a minimum wage matching the subsistence level, for strong trade unions and against insults to working people, we are for the dismissal of unscrupulous officials and for a merciless fight against drug dealers, we are for a strong president and strong Russia,” he said.

The idea to support the working people was proposed at a meeting of the public headquarters in support of Putin.