Google – AFP,
Huw Griffith (AFP), 15 March 2014
Protesters
carry Ukrainian and Russian flags in Moscow, on March 15, 2014,
during a rally
against Russia's recent intervention in Crimea (AFP, Dmitry Serebryakov)
|
Moscow —
Around 50,000 people rallied in central Moscow Saturday in protest at Russia's
intervention in Ukraine, a day before the Crimean peninsula votes on switching
to Kremlin rule.
Waving both
Ukrainian and Russian flags and shouting slogans heard during the
anti-government protests in Kiev, the demonstrators urged Russian President
Vladimir Putin to pull troops back from a Cold War-style confrontation.
Marchers
carried placards reading "Putin, get out of Ukraine" and others
comparing Russia's move on Crimea with the Nazi annexation of the Sudetenland
as Europe rushed headlong into World War II.
Many of the
protesters adopted the chants and slogans of Ukraine's popular uprising that
ousted President Viktor Yanukovych last month.
University
professor Yelena Orlova, 47, whose sign read "Ukraine is a sovereign
state", said she did not expect the rally would change her government's
position, but believed it was her duty to speak out.
"I
don't agree with the policy of Putin," she told AFP. "I am against
the annexation of Crimea. I think Russia should respect the borders of
Ukraine."
A huge
column of people snaked along a central boulevard with a hotch-potch of flags
and hand-written placards.
Protesters
carry Ukrainian and Russian flags in Moscow, on March 15, 2014,
during a rally
against recent Russia's intervention in the Crimean peninsula (AFP,
Dmitry
Serebryakov)
|
-
'Fratricidal war' -
After the
march, the protesters gathered on Prospekt Sakharova, the scene of huge
anti-Putin rallies that shook Russia in 2011-12.
"We are patriots and Putin is Russia's enemy," activist Ilya Yashin said from the stage.
"We are patriots and Putin is Russia's enemy," activist Ilya Yashin said from the stage.
"Ukraine
is a brotherly nation and we will not allow them (the government) to march us
into a fratricidal war."
An AFP team
at the rally said its numbers had swelled rapidly from an initial 5,000 at
around 2.00pm (1000 GMT), and stood at approximately 50,000 two hours later.
An earlier
estimate from the police put the number at 3,000.
Russian
police frequently downplay the size of opposition demonstrations.
A
livestream of the rally on one website accessible in Moscow had been viewed
around 240,000 times, according to a counter.
Some
leftist protesters were waving the black and red banners of the hugely
controversial Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA), which fought both Soviet and Nazi
forces during World War II.
A
helicopter buzzed overhead as some chanted "The main enemy is in the
Kremlin. No to fascism, no to imperialism."
Days after
Europe-leaning activists toppled the Moscow-approved government in Kiev last
month, thousands of pro-Russian gunmen took control of Crimea, home to Russia's
Black Sea fleet.
A newly
appointed government there declared it would leave Ukraine and has set a
referendum on the issue for Sunday.
Moscow,
which backs the government in Crimea and refuses to recognise the new
administration in Kiev, says the plebiscite is a legitimate opportunity for the
largely Russian-speaking peninsula to determine its own future.
Kiev and
its Western allies say the referendum is an illegal fig leaf for a land-grab by
the Kremlin, which it accuses of trying to unilaterally re-draw the post WWII
map of Europe.
A rival
demonstration within sight of the Kremlin in central Moscow, which appeared to
be well-organised, attracted 15,000 people in support of Putin, police
estimated.
Television
cameras, which swooped over the heads of demonstrators, showed uniform lines of
people wearing red and carrying red flags as speakers lashed out at
"fascists" in Ukraine they say are targeting ethnic Russians.
"There
will never be a Maidan in Moscow," ultra-conservative figure Sergei
Kurginyan shouted from the stage, referring to the focal point of the Kiev
uprising.
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