Communists Nominate Zyuganov for President, Yabloko Protest ✊

(17 Dec 2011)
1. Wide of crowd of demonstrators
2. Mid of protesters holding flags
3. Pan from the deputy head of Yabloko Party, Sergei Mitrokhin, to the crowd
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Ilya Ponomarev, Left Front activist:
++AUDIO AS INCOMING++
"Our Prime Minister held a live show on our TV where during five hours he was calling us condoms financed by the State department, crooks that are trying to steal the country and I think that this is the reaction that shows that he was scared."
5. Mid of policemen
6. Various of activists giving out white ribbons, symbol of the opposition
7. Mid of Communist Party Leader Gennady Zyuganov standing in front of bust of Lenin
8. Mid of activists listening to The Internationale
9. Wide of Zyuganov listening to the Internationale
10. Mid of activists from behind
11. Mid of Zyuganov approaching podium
12. SOUNDBITE: (Russian) Gennady Zyuganov, Communist Party leader:
"We're living in the epoch of the unlimited rule of trans-national financial capital. It started with the fall of the Soviet Union. We can easily call today's economics system financial imperialism. It pressures countries and nations with the help of credit systems, currency mechanisms and speculations in stock market trades."
13. Wide of the activists listening to Zyuganov's speech
STORYLINE:
About 1,000 demonstrators demanding a rerun of parliamentary elections gathered in a square in central Moscow on Saturday, for a second weekend of protests against the fraud-tainted vote.
The turnout was far smaller than the nationwide protests last Saturday in at least 60 cities, including a dramatic gathering of tens of thousands in Moscow, the largest show of public anger in post-Soviet Russia.
The comparatively small crowd in Moscow underlines the challenge that opposition forces face trying to repeatedly assemble crowds large enough to keep up pressure on authorities.
The demonstrations follow the 4 December national parliamentary elections, in which the ruling United Russia party lost a significant share of its seats in the State Duma, though it retained a narrow majority.
Reports by local and international observers of widespread vote-count irregularities and outright fraud led opposition forces to claim that even United Russia's reduced parliamentary majority wasn't fair.
The combination of fraud and United Russia's declining fortunes galvanised opposition groups that have been repressed during Putin's 12 year rule.
After several nights of unauthorised protests that police broke up, Moscow authorities showed unprecedented largesse in granting permission for activists to hold several large protests.
The permissions appeared to show that the Russian leadership was shaken by the opposition's determination.
But it could also be a strategy aimed at dissipating the anger, hoping that unhindered protests will eventually fade away.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin this week rejected calls for an election re-run, declaring that the result reflected the people's will.
The new Duma will hold its opening session on Wednesday.
The opposition, in turn, aims to keep up the pressure with a series of protests and is placing much hope on a Moscow rally on Christmas Eve that organisers believe will attract at least 50-thousand people.
Saturday's protest at Bolotnaya Square, on an island in the Moscow River a few hundred metres from the Kremlin, was organised by Yabloko, a liberal party that has been a long-time bit-player in Russian politics.
Unlike many liberal parties, it was able to register for the parliament elections, but won no seats.

Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork
Twitter: https://twitter.com/AP_Archive
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/APArchives ​​
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/APNews/


You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/6fabb021c5dd01636bd4089785afe7fc