On the 1st of May demonstrations took place in the majority of Russian towns. On this day in Moscow almost all parties took to and flooded the streets of the Capital with their placards and flags. Left, central and right wing oriented organizations came out to the demonstrations. It was remarkable that a lot of the demands of the demonstrators, from across political spectrum, were similar. Every movement demanded the modernization of the economy, criticized the reform of pensioners’ privileges and appealed for a free press. It’s significant that society notices the same mistakes of the government and comes to the same conclusions. (05-MAY-05)
This year the opposing democratic parties and human rights organizations had a higher turn out, than in the last several years. Supporters of the liberal parties SPS (Union of Right Forces) and Yabloko led this demonstration. Also taking part in the demonstrations were the human rights activists of the Soldiers’s Mothers Committee, Moscow Helsinki Group, “For Human Rights” organization and the Sakharov Centre. They gathered on Lubianka square near the Solovetsky Stone, which stands as a sign in memory of the victims of political repressions of the soviet period. The supporters of the right leaning parties and human rights activists projected demands: to return the right to choose the Regional heads of the Russian Federation, the reformation of and transition to a contract army, free access of the democratic opposition to the state mass-media and the emancipation of political prisoners, including Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Platon Lebedev and Igor Sutiagin.
A little bit later the young supporters of the liberal parties SPS and Yabloko, who had participated in the un-authorized demonstration against the violations of human rights in Belarus several days ago in Minsk and had been imprisoned for it, joined this 1st of May demonstration. They were emancipated, owing to the intervention and pressure of their colleagues from SPS, Yabloko and Moscow Helsinki Group on the Belarusian Ministry for Foreign Affairs. It was estimated as a small victory in a big affair for the defence of human rights.
