GOR LIMITS NATIONALIST RALLIES ON RUSSIAN DAY OF

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 MOSCOW 003254 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV PHUM PINR PREL RS SUBJECT: GOR LIMITS NATIONALIST RALLIES ON RUSSIAN DAY OF UNITY REF: A. 07 MOSCOW 5285 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. Approximately 2,000 nationalist activists gathered in different parts of Moscow for the "Russian March," a rally organized by established nationalist groups, on Russia's Day of People's Unity. The holiday, held since 2005 on November 4 as a replacement for events remembering the October 1917 Revolution, had been associated in past years with nationalist marches throughout the country, the largest being in Moscow. The ultranationalist Movement Against Illegal Immigration (DPNI) staged an unofficial rally in central Moscow after city authorities denied it permission, reportedly resulting in the arrest of 500 participants for illegal demonstration with no reports of injuries, according to the press. Another group, the People's Union, organized a sparsely attended, but officially sanctioned meeting on a scenic Moscow riverside thoroughfare. Fewer nationalists demonstrated than were originally predicted, with media outlets and police officers almost outnumbering the marchers. Low attendance at the rallies can be attributed to a few factors: lower government tolerance for organized displays of nationalism, disagreements between the leadership of different nationalist groups, low public interest in protests, and dipping temperatures. Nationalists Protested, Apprehended in Moscow -------------- ¶2. (SBU) Between 1,000 to 2,000 nationalist protesters, organized through internet maps and statements on the DPNI website, gathered after 1000 in the morning on November 4 near the "Arbatskaya" subway station in central Moscow for the Russian March. Notorious DPNI leader Alexander Belov headed the procession. Police detained approximately 500 predominantly young participants, many wearing surgical masks, from DPNI, Slavic Union, Russian Public Movement, the movement "People," and the "Memory" foundation during the banned demonstration. Detained participants were charged with violating regulations against holding rallies since they had not received a government permit for the demonstration. Just before 1100 in the morning, approximately 300-400 activists of various nationalist organizations paraded for half an hour down Moscow's famous Old Arbat before being surrounded by Special Purpose Police Detachment (OMON) forces and Ministry of Internal Affairs (MVD) officers contained them. Some of the participants shouted "Forward Russians!" and "Moscow For Muscovites" and made Nazi salutes as they marched along the relatively empty pedestrian street. Several protesters tried to break through an OMON police cordon at the end of the street, and were detained. While some activists became aggressive, eliciting a mildly violent response from OMON guards using batons, there were no reports of injuries. Slavic Union leader Dmitriy Demushkin claimed that police beat detainees, and threatened to file a lawsuit. Human rights observers visited the detention centers in the afternoon and reported no signs of mistreatment or abuse. ¶3. (SBU) Intense media coverage and overwhelming police presence overshadowed the actual nationalist demonstrations. All of Russia's major television and radio programs deployed camera crews and reporters to the Arbat area, at times blocking adjoining streets to traffic as they searched for the best shot of approaching marchers. The overbearing police presence snuffed out most spontaneous nationalist flares along the Arbat, including some relatively quiet youth waving tsarist-era flags and chanting, "Russia for Russians!" Numerous locations in central Moscow were closed off by police to the public, including Red Square and some major subway entrances near the Arbat. Police quickly apprehended protesters who lit smoke bombs and tossed smudge pots into main pedestrian walkways. While we witnessed that police officers did not hesitate to act against protesters, on occasion with batons, on the whole they behaved in a civil manner. Detainees, surrounded by television crews and photographers, were led gingerly by police officers to temporary buses along the highly-trafficked adjacent New Arbat until armored OMON vehicles arrived to transport them to detention facilities. Red Square was closed to the public for most of the day and Kremlin tours were suspended mid-day (despite long lines waiting for entrance) to allow police to keep demonstrators far away from the Kremlin. Protests in Regions Mostly Peaceful -------------- ¶4. (SBU) Russian Marches outside of Moscow were held without incident. The Vladivostok city authorities banned marches planned by ultranationalist groups, but allowed rallies by "activists of national patriotic public movements." Activists waved imperial banners, displayed logos, and shouted slogans, including "a Russian master for the Russian MOSCOW 00003254 002 OF 002 land." The sanctioned Russian March in Novosibirsk drew 200 supporters carrying yellow, black, and white banners (DPNI colors) who clashed with some 25 anti-fascist protesters. After isolated skirmishes, the groups dispersed and no arrests were reported. In Krasnoyarsk, approximately 300 people attended a Russian March, while in Chita only 50 participants showed up. The St. Petersburg-based "Slav Union" organized a 100-person, city-approved rally through city streets without incident. St. Petersburg police reported only 45 arrests throughout the day's activities, mostly for hooliganism and traffic violations. Russians Largely Not Interested in Protests? -------------- ¶5. (SBU) Despite the attention paid to nationalist protests in Russia, most Russians are disinclined to protest in general, according to research from the Levada Center. Researchers attributed the lack of enthusiasm to protest to financial stability: only 8 percent of Russians claimed to feel the impact of the financial crisis personally, and 55 percent of those surveyed believed the country was "heading in the right direction." Several groups made strong statements in opposition to the actions of nationalist protesters. The Congress of Peoples of the Caucasus demanded that authorities bring charges against DPNI for distributing leaflets with hate messages urging Russians to kill "persons of Caucasus nationality." Additionally, the Naberezhny Chelny part of the All-Tatar Public Center called on the Kremlin to highlight the negative behavior of nationalists, protesting on a holiday meant to celebrate national unity, through television programs. Pro-Government Religious Leaders Welcome Holiday -------------- --- ¶6. (SBU) Religious groups also welcomed the holiday. Russian Orthodox Patriarch Aleksey II appealed to Russians to observe the Day of People's Unity as a day to "unite citizens regardless of their nationality." Deputy Chairman of the Russian Council of Muftis Damir Gizatullin announced to the press that "modern Russia prospers thanks to the unity of nationalities and religions." Chief Rabbi Berel Lazar announced that "relations between peoples and religions are very difficult in the modern world, so we must try to find solutions, seek mutual understanding and unity." Nationalist Violence Away from Public Eye -------------- ¶7. (SBU) Despite the relatively peaceful nationalist protests in central Moscow, nationalists continued to wage lethal battles with immigrants from Central Asia and the Caucasus in Moscow's poorer suburbs. A report on November 4 reported that a group of young Moscow skinheads carried out attacks on two Uzbek street sweepers, killing one with multiple stab wounds and inflicting wounds requiring hospitalization of the other. The skinheads, who shouted nationalist slogans during the attack according to eyewitnesses, were rumored by locals to be avenging the October rape and murder of a 15-year old Russian girl, supposedly attacked by an Uzbek man. Ekho Moskvy also reported that seventeen people were arrested after a large fight broke out in Solnechnogorsk, a distant Moscow suburb, over ethnic tensions. Police confiscated stun guns, knives, and bats from Russian youths and combatants "from the Caucasus." Youths also attacked a Turkmen diplomat around midday outside of the Turkmenistan consulate in central Moscow. These violent incidents represent part of a larger trend, according to the Moscow Bureau of Human Rights, in that hate crimes in Russia in the first ten months of 2008 increased by 50 percent over that of 2007. Almost half of the crimes occurred in Moscow. Comment -------------- 8 (SBU) Although Russian authorities demonstrated force against center-stage Moscow protests in front of the cameras racial violence continues to rage throughout the Russian suburbs and countryside, providing a vent for nationalist sentiments. BEYRLE