The Anti-Putin march which Nemtsov was organizing for today, March 1, went ahead only it was a remembrance march for Nemtsov instead. As many as 70,000 people showed up. The official police count was 16,000 so it was at least 4X that. I remember from the marches in Washington DC against the Vietnam War (which I observed as as student from a very safe distance). If 100,000 people showed up the MSM were instructed to report 10,000 based on official Whitehouse estimates.
Estimating a crowd is actually quite simple if you have detailed information ahead of time of areas where the crowd will assemble eg length and width of bridge (or the park in front of the White House where the Washington Monument is where people gathered for Obama's swearing in). An estimate of how much of the area is actually occupied is multiplied by so many people per square meter/yard, which doesn't change that much, I guess.
70,000 is not very many but considering the atmosphere in which they are marching, they are extremely brave. Did you see the photos of the crowd from Obama's inauguration in 2009? The quality of the photographs was such that you could expand to identify any person anywhere in the crowd. A program to match against photos on social media would give you the names of most of them, I expect. The photos of the crowds at William and Kate's wedding were in the same detail and I found my daughter in the crowd. (OK, my cousin found her). So you can figure that everyone of those 70,000 people will be on record with the FSB.
Photos from Konstantine Maslov www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=826951274045794&set=pcb.826952464045675&type=1&theater
Nemstov's girlfriend who was with him when he was assassinated is being held in Moscow pending investigation. She is not under arrest but neither can she leave to return to Ukraine of which country she is a citizen.
No violence reported that I could find. There were a number of arrests. Anyone with a Ukrainian flag or a Free Savchencko sign of any kind were arrested. Ukrainian Deputy Alexei Goncharenko was arrested for wearing a Nemstov t-shirt. Russia may charge him with murder in connection with the May 2014 fire in the Trade Union Centre in Odessa. There are several Ukrainians held in Russia under various excuses. Savchenko and Goncharenko are the highest profile.
Gonchenko likely had as much to do with the fire in Odessa as Savchenko had to do with the deaths of two Russian journalists but that is irrelevant. "Russian justice" involves picking a victim, picking a crime to charge them with, and manufacturing evidence as necessary. It doesn't have to be even the least bit credible as the verdict will be written in the Kremlin, possibly even before the trial and handed to the judge to read.
Estimating a crowd is actually quite simple if you have detailed information ahead of time of areas where the crowd will assemble eg length and width of bridge (or the park in front of the White House where the Washington Monument is where people gathered for Obama's swearing in). An estimate of how much of the area is actually occupied is multiplied by so many people per square meter/yard, which doesn't change that much, I guess.
70,000 is not very many but considering the atmosphere in which they are marching, they are extremely brave. Did you see the photos of the crowd from Obama's inauguration in 2009? The quality of the photographs was such that you could expand to identify any person anywhere in the crowd. A program to match against photos on social media would give you the names of most of them, I expect. The photos of the crowds at William and Kate's wedding were in the same detail and I found my daughter in the crowd. (OK, my cousin found her). So you can figure that everyone of those 70,000 people will be on record with the FSB.
Photos from Konstantine Maslov www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=826951274045794&set=pcb.826952464045675&type=1&theater
Nemstov's girlfriend who was with him when he was assassinated is being held in Moscow pending investigation. She is not under arrest but neither can she leave to return to Ukraine of which country she is a citizen.
No violence reported that I could find. There were a number of arrests. Anyone with a Ukrainian flag or a Free Savchencko sign of any kind were arrested. Ukrainian Deputy Alexei Goncharenko was arrested for wearing a Nemstov t-shirt. Russia may charge him with murder in connection with the May 2014 fire in the Trade Union Centre in Odessa. There are several Ukrainians held in Russia under various excuses. Savchenko and Goncharenko are the highest profile.
Gonchenko likely had as much to do with the fire in Odessa as Savchenko had to do with the deaths of two Russian journalists but that is irrelevant. "Russian justice" involves picking a victim, picking a crime to charge them with, and manufacturing evidence as necessary. It doesn't have to be even the least bit credible as the verdict will be written in the Kremlin, possibly even before the trial and handed to the judge to read.
In other words, life as usual in Putin's Russia. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même choise.
ReplyDeleteLord, have mercy.
Blessings and Bear hugs!
At some point the people may not want to put up with the everyday BS that is their government. Things will probably get worse before they get better, but this is encouraging.
ReplyDelete"Things will probably get worse before they get better,"
ReplyDeleteYup, if they do get better.
Do not believe that Russians will rise up and over throw Putin. Not as long as he can convince them that they are under attack by outside forces.
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