The speaker describes today’s protest as highly successful and unprecedented in its geographic reach, emphasizing that rallies took place even in cities where such demonstrations had previously been virtually unheard of. According to him, in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the authorities tried to reduce turnout through de facto bans, yet many people still took to the streets despite the threat of detention. He claims that there were fewer detentions than last time, although they were groundless in nature. He concludes that mass protests cannot be fully crushed through repression and calls on people to keep taking part in demonstrations, even when the authorities do not grant official permission.
Text version
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How do you assess today's
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protest? We saw absolutely remarkable
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stories—for example, in Saratov, 6,000 people. Penza
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saw a huge rally, and demonstrations took place in
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many cities where nothing like this had ever
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happened in any form—for example, in Nakhodka, where
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the last time anything like it happened was in 1952,
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when prisoners rose up. In that sense, the protest was
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truly
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unprecedented in its geographic
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scope, and geographic reach was exactly
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our main goal. So of course we consider
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this protest highly successful. And in
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Moscow, both the Moscow and St. Petersburg protests
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were large. In both cities, the authorities
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did everything they could to reduce
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the number of participants by effectively banning
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both
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events. I am very pleased
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that people came out, and I am proud that I am
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part of this movement, in which
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brave, wonderful people are not
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afraid to take to the streets even under
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the threat of detention and everything
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else. There were fewer detentions than
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last time. There were still many, of course, and they
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were completely baseless—people were
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being grabbed left and right. But once again,
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the main thing to remember is that they cannot
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detain or arrest everyone. These are
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certainly aggressive and intimidating
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actions by the authorities. Of course, it is a great
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tragedy when several
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people are subjected to unlawful
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criminal prosecution, but everything
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that is happening shows us once again that
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large masses of people, large groups of people,
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cannot be repressed, and the authorities can do nothing
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in reality against tens of
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thousands taking to the streets. Therefore, we must
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continue taking part in protests.
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If they do not allow us to participate, we should still
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go out, whether or not there is permission. Tell me,
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did you have the idea of not spending the night at home and instead leaving
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for the street from some other
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location? That idea did come up, but it is not
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realistic, because every time before
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every rally, for about five days beforehand, I am
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so closely followed by surveillance teams
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who do not even try to hide it. Well, of course, one can
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pretend it's some kind of spy movie,
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jumping from one subway car to another
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but not even
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[music]
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child, building 175
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Turn on the camera
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please, a few words
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please step back
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please step away from the elevator
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[music]