Meetings of Oleg Sheiyn's supporters and opponents passed off in Volgograd

On April, 17, two meetings were held in Volgograd simultaneously: one of them was that of the supporters of ex-candidate for Mayor's office of Astrakhan Oleg Seiyn, the other was organized by opponents of the politician who is currently on a hunger strike.

The actions in Oleg Seiyn's support and against him were authorized by the authorities and held in Lenin square of Volgograd which was a surprise for the supporters of ex-candidate for Mayor's office of Astrakhan. According to the organizers of the action in his support, at the moment when the application for their action was submitted the square was free.

The two actions were separated from each other with only two meters distance and a metallic fencing, however both of them passed off peacefully.

Members of "Fair Russia" and "Yabloko" parties also participated in the action organized by civil movement "For fair election". The participants were holding posters: "Residents of Volgograd support Oleg Seiyn", "The new Russia is beginning with Astrakhan", "Losing kilograms Seiyn is gaining weight".

In spite of these slogans, representatives of the movement "For fair election" are supporting not Oleg Seiyn personally but his demand, activist Ruslan Alexeyev said in his interview to the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"It is not a support of any particular candidate. Oleg Seiyn is now a mouthpiece of the truth and justice. The information we got from Astrakhan and what we saw during the presidential election here in Volgograd allows us to speak of similarity of the violations. Therefore, we demand recount of votes or holding an additional election", he said.

The participants came to express their support of and open, public and thorough inquiry on the facts of forgery that took place during the election of Mayor of Astrakhan, Alexander Yefimov, activist of the movement "For fair election", leader of the branch of "Yabloko" in the town of Volzhsky, said.

He added that he was not aware of any facts of hunger strikes in Volgograd in support of Sheiyn.

According to Head of Press service of Chief Directorate of Interior Affairs in Volgograd region Anton Kornaukhov, about 100 persons took part in the action of the opposition while the number of Seiyn's opponents was almost 250. Kornaukhov states that no violations of the order of mass actions were registered.

At the same time, the police removed several persons who defended their position too violently from the territory where the meeting "For fair election" was held, among them members of ethnic and political movement "The Russians" and a representative of the opponents' meeting, Sergey Yefimov added.

"They (representatives of ethnic and political movement "The Russians" - note by the "Caucasian Knot") were not announced as participants and are permanent visitors of all kinds of protest actions. There was also an agent provocateur from "United Russia" who "grappled" with them. I think videos and photos will appear and for this reason we will be accused of friendship with the nationalists. That is a customary practice with the "United Russians", the activist declared.

As for the action of the opponents, members of "United Russia", deputies of regional Duma and representatives of an organization "New People" participated in it. They were holding posters "Down with political blackmail!" meaning Sheiyn's hunger strike.

"We oppose the position of Sheiyn who by means of blackmail is trying to mislead the people", deputy of Volgograd regional Duma Roland Kherianov explained.

Leader of Volgograd branch of youth organization "New People" Pavel Kirichenko agrees with him. "We do not want so-called "politicians" like Sheiyn to score points for themselves by such means of political blackmail as a hunger strike. We stand for stability. We consider that out country is developing. There are problems but there is a progress, too", he ended his speech.