Sunday, December 18, 2011

Russian opposition leader detained after fresh protests

 

About 1,500 protesters took to the streets in Moscow and other Russian cities on Saturday to demonstrate against the disputed December 4 parliamentary election.
The turnout of the protests was far below that of the rallies one week ago, when more than 50,000 demonstrated in Moscow, St. Petersburg and elsewhere.
Saturday's protests in Moscow had been organized by the center-left Yabloko party, which failed to win any seats in the upcoming parliament, receiving only 3.3 percent in the vote.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party won an absolute majority in the Duma but lost the two-thirds majority it held in the previous term.
Critics say the party actually did far worse and only maintained the slimmest of majorities through ballot stuffing.
"We need a new election law and new, honest elections," Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky told the crowd.
"Our goal is to change today's political system, which lies, which is corrupt and serves the interests of a small group of people," he said.
Nemtsov temporarily arrested

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