MOSCOW, February 26 (Itar-Tass) — Participants in the action “For honest elections” are gathering at some places in Moscow’s Garden Circle, Itar-Tass reports.
All who came for the action to be staged in the form of a flash-mob, are handed out white ribbons. However, many already came with them and with white balloons.
Participants in the event, many of whom came with their children, are gathering in the Zubovsky Boulevard, Sukharevskaya Street, near the Kursk rail terminal, next to the Satira Theatre and in the Tsvetnoi (Flower) Boulevard.
Sparse groups of people were spotted so far at various places of the Garden Circle. Police treat protesters politely, Tass transmits.
In the meantime, eyewitnesses report that a group of activists of pro-Kremlin movements gathered in the Zubovsky Boulevard; many of them came with posters “Putin loves all”.
The flash-mob “For honest elections” is a continuation of multi-thousand protest actions that started in Moscow last December after the State Duma elections. The difference of the present action from previous ones is that it does not need agreement from the Moscow authorities in contrast to rallies, marches or pickets. Therefore, it will pass without slogans, speeches, posters, streamers and other rally accessories.
It is planned that participants in the action “Grand white circle”, preparation for which was conducted through social networks, will come to the Garden Circle at 14.00, stand on the sidewalk and take each other by hands, forming, according to the plot of organizers, a live chain.
Action organizers calculated that “34,000 people should gather to form a live ring on the Garden Circle. Some 14,000 people confirmed their participation in the “Grand white circle” in the Facebook.
An intention to participate in the flash-mob expressed opposition politicians and reporters, including Boris Nemtsov, Leonid Parfyonov, Gennady and Dmitry Gudkovs, Viktor Shenderovich, Garry Kasparov, Sergei Parkhomenko as well as author Boris Akunin.
Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin issued a warning to action participants. “Let them come out, take each other by hand, but without blocking motor traffic. If they take to the streets and block traffic, police will respond appropriately,” the city head said.
Following “the Grand white circle” in Revolution Square, “Farewell to political winter” will be held, Itar-Tass learnt from member of the organizing committee of the campaign “For honest elections” and Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov.
“Following “White circle” in the Garden Circle, we join numerous holiday-makers at 16:00, celebrating the Pan-Cake Week in Revolution Square where mass festivities are planned,” he stated. “Since we were not permitted to stage a rally, there will be no posters and speeches; we shall arrange the farewell for the ‘political winter”, Udaltsov said.