Rally against nationalism in Moscow brought together from 1500 to 3000 persons, eyewitnesses say

The riots and clashes in Manege Square on December 11 were possible partly because for many years the authorities had paid no attention to the nationalism, flourishing in the country. This is the opinion of journalist and writer Viktor Shenderovich, one of the organizers of the rally "Moscow for All!" His criticism was supported by the writer Dmitri Bykov, who suggested that the state media would understate the number of the participants of the rally.

Let us remind you that the anti-nationalist rally was a response to mass actions of nationalist nature, which were frequent in Moscow in December. Participation in the rally was supported and promoted by well-known cultural figures and TV personalities, including Chulpan Khamatova, Yevgeny Mironov, Tatiana Lazareva, Mikhail Schatz and Leonid Parfyonov.

"Under the slogan 'Forward, Russia!' we saw dense flourishing of nationalism and chauvinism of Russian outskirts; while the authorities demoralized the civil society. Our civil society remains paralyzed for 10 years; and its resistance has decreased significantly. Youth policy went down to Seliger Lake camps, baiting of the British Ambassador, trampling of Liudmila Alekseeva's portraits and others things of this sort," Viktor Shenderovich told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

He has emphasized that there was no work on the interethnic policy in the country in general.

The nationalist actions in Moscow and cries 'Sieg Heil!" at the Eternal Flame in Manege Square had insulted quite a lot of people; therefore people came to Pushkin Square to show that they have a different opinion, said the journalist.

"We are not like those people in Manege Square. We're different; and there are quite plenty of us. The people, who came to support our action, are very atypical for such actions; they aren't political staff; although we have party leaders here too. However, there are no political slogans. People came here to say that they are humans, not animals," said the source.

Some of the speakers at the rally criticized the Russian authorities. They called to search the provocators, who instigated the interethnic incidents on December 11 in Manege Square in Moscow. At the same time, the speakers abstained from condemning such actions as a whole. According to them, "the youth are not guilty, as we react to this generation, in the same way they refer to all of us".

Lev Ponomaryov, Executive Director of the All-Russian Movement "For Human Rights" and a member of the National Assembly of the Russian Federation, suggested that the actions of nationalists in Manege Square, at the Kiev Railway Station and near the Ostankino Television Centre were the pre-planned provocation of the authorities, who picked up the youth's dissatisfaction with the existing life and directed it - with the help of provocators - to the required direction.

"The authorities wanted to set the children against democrats and against liberals. And all the hatred turned into xenophobia and actions against other people," Lev Ponomaryov told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

Dmitri Bykov, a writer, journalist and television presenter, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that state-run media will by all means try to show the nullity of the rally.

"We'll surely learn from some websites and some TV programmes that the rally was attended by some 150 marginals," he said.

According to Mr Bykov, he often reads speeches of persons who call themselves nationalists. "They have nothing to do with the ethical, not ethnical, nationalism; and we'll never let them equate Russia to unkind, negligible and unintelligent persons," he has emphasized.

Mr Bykov's assumptions regarding the strength of the December 26 rally as presented by some media outlets got confirmed. Thus, the RIA "Novosti" wrote that the rally was attended by about 300 persons, and the "Interfax" said 200. On the other hand, according to one of technical organizers of the rally, the approximate number of the participants of the rally "Moscow for All!" was about 3000 persons; some of them simply could not get inside the area cordoned by the militia.

The Moscow blogger Anton Matyukhin wrote in the Facebook: "By my estimates, some 1000-1500 persons came. This is not a lot, but unfortunately, more people come only when knackers get together. I was struck by the average age of the audience - 40-50 years old. Students and schoolchildren were very few. It's terrible."

He also noted that there were a lot of TV cameras and photographers at the rally; however, he expressed doubts that the reports will be ever put on Central TV Channels.

The blogger notes that the speakers blamed not only the existing power, but, above all, themselves - "our passivity, inaction and lack of attention to upbringing our children, which resulted in such nasty events like 'Siegs' and 'Heils' at the Eternal Flame.

The Internet group dedicated to the rally on December 26 named "Rally 'Moscow for All!'" on the Facebook contained most differing views about the rally in Pushkin Square.

Thus, the user Vasily Pupillo complained that there are no Russian communities in Russia. "There are communities of Dagestanis, Armenians, Abkhazians, Kabardians, Chechens in Russia, but there is no community of Russians; isn't it strange? And if someone has an idea to create one, how will it be called? Right - it will be treated as nationalism, fascism and incitement to ethnic hatred," Mr Pupillo wrote.

The user Julia Adelkhanova answered him by writing that Russian communities abroad have to be ashamed of the rioters in Manege Square. "On December 26, Russians stood for their right not to live in a fascist country, and not to be despised in the countries where they are a minority," said Julia.