
After being turned down for a location near Bolotnaya Square near the center of Moscow, the opposition has been granted a permit by the Moscow Mayor's Office to hold a rally against the Yarovaya anti-terrorism legislation in Sokolniki Park, Interfax reported.
Leonid Volkov, a staff member of the Anti-Corruption Foundation led by Alexey Navalny, had earlier reported that the request to hold the meeting closer to the center of Moscow was turned down on a technicality -- that not all three requisite signatures were placed on the application. Even after this was corrected and re-submitted, the Moscow Mayor's Office denied the request.
Following continued negotiations, the permit was finally issued -- but for a venue that is at least 10 kilometers away and will not be as visible nor attract as many participants.
In a statement for the press, Volkov said:
"We agreed to the offer from the mayor's office because our job is to hold the event and not create some sort of conflict situations. The rally will take place August 9 at 19:00 in Sokolniki Park. The number of participants in the application has not changed."
Volkov attempted to file a complaint against the mayor's office in court on the grounds that Articles 23 and 24 of the Russian Constitution concerning freedom of assembly had been violated, but the suit was turned down by Tverskoi Court. Volkov has appealed the decision.
So far, 2,700 said they planned to participate on the Facebook event page for the rally.
In a post today, Volkov attempted to get more people to turn out to the rally by proposing that representatives from groups of players of Pokemon Go could speak from the platform, and would be ordered by the number of pokemon characters they had caught. Pokemon Go is not unrelated to the cause; Russian parliamentarians and government officials have made a number of statements that they may restrict the popular online game because it may retain Russian user data.
Last weekend, a group of activists from the Solidarity movement held an anti-war picket in downtown Moscow to protest Russia's ongoing war against Ukraine.
They were quickly set upon by ultranationalist thugs from SERB [South-East Radical Bloc] and the National Liberation Movement, reported one participant, Anna Naumcheva, who posted a video on her Facebook page.
The video shows some young thugs grabbing the demonstrators and pushing some to the ground. Eventually police arrived on the scene and detained some of them.
In St. Petersburg, authorities also turned down an application by activists from the opposition group Vesna [Spring] who wanted to protest against the Yarovaya legislation, proposing a venue far from the center of town, RosBalt reported.
Vesna has staged actions with volunteers holding boxes with slits for paper marked "DONOS" , the Russian word for a report from a police informer, to satirize the ease with which the new law enables surveillance.
-- Catherine A. Fitzpatrick
According to Lenta.ru, the spa was built by the Archbishop of Irkutsk and Nerchinsky Nil in the mid-19th century. The area is a popular wilderness travel destination.
The Russian ruble is trading at 66.37 to the dollar and 74.32 to the euro. Brent crude is $42.91 per barrel.
The following headlines are taken from The Daily Mail, The Interpreter, Interfax, Rosbalt, and Kommersant.
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-- Catherine A. Fitzpatrick
Some media were prompted to speculate if the "wild 1990s" were coming back when mafias frequently settled scores with violence. The incident shed light on the shadowy world of private security firms with official involvement.
-- Catherine A. Fitzpatrick
According to the press service of the Interior Ministry (police) in Buryatia, due to a conflict apparently about property ownership, gunmen took over one of the buildings of the Nilova Pustin' clinic and neither patients nor medical personnel were able to enter. About 10 citizens were said to be held in the building.
According to the Interior Ministry (translation by The Interpreter):
"As a result of explanatory work conducted by police, citizens left the building of the clinic. The treatment process has been restored. The situation is under control."
But authorities did not provide any information on the identity of the assailants or whether any arrests had been made.
Nilova Pustin' is a health spa where balneological therapy at local springs is available.
-- Catherine A. Fitzpatrick