Tens of thousands of demonstrators on Saturday cheered opposition leaders and jeered the Kremlin in скачать в хорошем качестве

Tens of thousands of demonstrators on Saturday cheered opposition leaders and jeered the Kremlin in

(6 Jan 2012) HEADLINE: Raw Video: Anti-Putin protests draw tens of thousands CAPTION:Tens of thousands of demonstrators on Saturday cheered opposition leaders and jeered the Kremlin in the biggest show of outrage yet against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule. (Dec. 24) STORYLINE Tens of thousands of demonstrators cheered Russian opposition leaders on Saturday and jeered the Kremlin in the biggest show of outrage yet against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule. The Moscow demonstration was even bigger than a similar rally two weeks ago, signalling that the protest movement ignited by the fraud-tainted December 4 parliamentary election may be growing. Protest were also held in dozens of other cities and towns across Russia, including the country's second largest city, St. Petersburg. In the capital, rally participants densely packed a broad avenue, which has room for nearly 100,000 people, about 2.5 kilometres (some 1.5 miles) from the Kremlin, as the temperature dipped well below freezing. They chanted "Russia without Putin!" Several hundred supporters of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the leader of the nationalist Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR), gathered to protest. "Don't take us for idiots," Zhirinovsky told the crowd. "We will arrange for your dances in prison cells if you continue to behave in this way." Grigory Yavlinsky, leader of the liberal Russian United Democratic Party or "Yabloko" pushed for a change of a parliamentary system he described as "corrupted, venal, closed, hypocritical, illegitimate in reality." Former Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who lost his seat after complaining about increased defence spending, surprised the protesters by saying the current parliament should approve the electoral changes and then step down to allow new elections to be held. Kudrin, who remains close to Putin, warned that the wave of protests could lead to violence and called for establishing a dialogue between the opposition and the government which he would help facilitate. Mikhail Kasyanov, Putin's former prime minister who has now become a top opposition figure told The Associated Press that the elections were "not free elections". "That's why we demand to postpone this election, and first to change the legislation immediately and allow other opposition leaders just to participate, not those who Putin chose for artificial competition, that is not election," said Kasyanov, a co-leader of the liberal opposition Party of People's Freedom (Parnas). Alexei Navalny, a corruption-fighting lawyer and popular blogger, electrified the crowd when he took the stage. A rousing speaker, he had protesters shouting "We are the power!" Navalny spent 15 days in jail for leading a protest on 5 December that unexpectedly drew more than 5,000 people and set off the chain of demonstrations. Since his release, he has helped to further galvanise the opposition. "A lot of votes have been stolen. In Moscow alone, up to 1.5 (m) million votes were stolen. It is an obvious machination, obvious fraud, done in such a brazen way, that it is impossible to tolerate this any longer," Navalny told reporters after addressing the crowds. Meanwhile, arrests occurred in St. Petersburg as protesters demanded new elections and the dismissal of Vladimir Churov, head of the central election commission, who is blamed for alleged vote rigging. Ten activists from the opposition party Other Russia were detained on Saturday opposite St. Petersburg's city government headquarters. They wanted to present a list of demands to the city governor, but police denied them access. APTN STORY NUMBER: 720466 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...