Residents of Chechnya state being forced to take part in rally in support of accession of Crimea

The rally, held in Grozny on March 18 in support of Russia's incorporation of the Crimea, gathered more than 10,000 people, the city administration has reported.

"Apart from the rally, the anniversary was marked here by another action. More than 30 people, members of cycling clubs "Start" and "Highlander", drove along main streets of Grozny carrying flags of Russia, Chechnya and the Republic of Crimea," said a source from the administration of the Chechen capital.

In their turn, residents of Grozny complained about their participation in the rally under compulsion.

"Already two days before the rally, we were informed that at five o'clock in the evening on March 18 we should go and take part in a rally in support of Russia's incorporation of the Crimea. Yesterday, on March 18, by the end of the working day, we were given a variety of posters and banners, portraits of Putin and Kadyrov and brought to the city centre," Ramzan I, an employee of one of republic's institutions, told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent.

"We were at the rally in honour of the anniversary of the annexation of the Crimea together with our teachers and other leaders. As usual, all were warned that the participation in the rally is mandatory; and teachers watched to it that no one had left early," said Adam, a university student from Grozny.

However, as he noted, the supervision over the participation in the rally was "not as strong as before." "Several of my friends went home under various pretexts," said Adam.

The "Caucasian Knot" has reported that on March 18, southern Russia hosted a series of rallies in support of the Crimea's joining to Russia. According to the organizers or the police, the rallies were attended by different number of participants, from 20 people in Sochi up to 13,000 people in Krasnodar.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.