In Khabarovsk, Russia, protesters showed up on Saturday for their third straight weekend of demonstrations challenging President Vladimir Putin.
The city in Russia’s far east drew tens of thousands of demonstrators to voice their outrage over the arrest of the region’s popular governor. On July 9, Gov. Sergei Furgal was dragged out of his car and sent to Moscow on a 15-year-old murder accusation. Putin further inflamed the situation when he appointed Mikhail Degtyarev, an outsider, as the acting governor of the Khabarovsk region last Monday.
People in the streets shouted, “Shame on the Kremlin,” and “We are the ones in power.”
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Opposition activists estimate that between 50,000 and 100,000 people showed up. City officials, in a clear undercount, say that number was closer to 6,500.
The Russian government typically is swift to crack down on protests, which is what makes Saturday’s demonstration so unique. So many people showed up that police officers made little attempt to control them. “Khabarovsk, a city of 600,000 close to the eastern terminus of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the Chinese border, had not seen any protests of much significance since the early 1990s,” said a report by the New York Times.
Irina Lukasheva, 56, a sidewalk vendor at the event, said, “There will be a revolution.” She added, “What did our grandfathers fight for? Not for poverty or for the oligarchs sitting over there in the Kremlin.”
Weeks ago, Putin won a referendum that would allow him to serve until 2036, should he be elected to a third and fourth consecutive term. The Russian constitution typically only allows presidents to serve two consecutive six-year terms but now makes a special exception for Putin. Critics believe the election was not a fair one. Evidence of voter fraud in the country during prior elections abounds. Still, Putin is able to use these elections as a sign of the legitimacy of his leadership.