Kremlin interference fails to stop thousands protest in Moscow

Meanwhile, Distributed Denial of Service attacks struck TV Rain, an
independent channel that has supported the protests, on Tuesday, while
others reported problems included the liberal Echo of Moscow radio station
and the Novaya Gazeta newspaper, a sharp critic of the regime.

Cyber attacks are believed to be a favoured tactic of pro-Kremlin youth
groups, who routinely target liberal media outlets they accuse of taking an
insufficiently loyal line.

Neither the cyber attacks nor volatile weather deterred the demonstrators who
marched through central Moscow on Tuesday shouting “Putin is a thief”
and “Russia
without Putin!”

Police claimed 15,000 people joined the crowd that jammed Moscow’s boulevard
ring bearing colours banners ranging from the far right’s black-gold and
white imperial flags to the red banners of the far left. Opposition leaders
put the number of protesters at 120,000.

The nationalists even brought a bagpiper who offered a slightly-off note
rendition of Scotland the Brave.

The sight of thousands of people chanting for Mr Putin’s ouster has become a
familiar one to Muscovites since December, when the first mass
demonstrations began after disputed parliamentary elections.

Yesterday’s rally passed off peacefully, despite moves by the authorities to
crack down on the movement in recent weeks.

After the last anti-Putin rally on May 6 descended into violence, pro-Kremlin
deputies rushed a bill though parliament that raises the fines for
participation in an illegal protests to about £5,000.

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