There really are such amazing cities where the people who come to a rally are even more energized than you are. You’re not the one who starts the chants — they are.
I suspect half the crowd couldn’t hear a thing because of the cheerful Middle Eastern-style music the administration had turned on (they deliberately dragged over loudspeakers during the second half), but it still turned into one of the best rallies of the entire campaign.
People of Samara, you’re incredible. What more do we need to believe in victory when there are people like you.
As I wrote, we held the rally in accordance with a court authorization.
I had the writ of execution in my pocket. I showed it to the police, they shrugged and said: go to the square. True, the governor, who had organized a “belly dancing championship,” forgot to turn off the very loud music, but we managed on our own, and a loudspeaker made an excellent stage.
In other words, we enforced the court’s ruling ourselves and restored the rule of law.
At one point, the administration, upset that we had turned off their music, dragged over more loudspeakers and, placing them behind the police, switched the belly-dancing music back on. Whether the police were dancing, I couldn’t see — it was too far away.
Overall, the police did not interfere. It’s the regional administration that has issues with the courts; the police had no stake in it. Our backup plan was to go to the designated protest area (a “Hyde Park”-style public assembly zone), and it seemed to me the police were even pleased that nobody went anywhere else and that we held the rally where the court had decided it should be held.
Even though I lost my voice, and even though many people couldn’t hear anything, it was still an amazing rally in terms of atmosphere and energy. Samara, thank you!
More photos here.
Dear everyone, please support our campaign — we’re running it for real.