May 7, 2012 in Moscow, the inauguration of President of Russia V.V. Putin. Since numerous irregularities were recorded during the elections, opposition leaders declared the newly elected president illegitimate and suggested holding a protest rally on May 6 under the slogan "Let's not let the thief into the Kremlin."
The venue of the action offered Bolotnaya and Manezhnaya squares. Member of the Solidarity movement Mark Halperin indicated in a statement to the rally Manezhnaya Square. The city authorities refused, although, according to the law on rallies, the consent of the authorities is not required - the organizers just need to notify the place and time of the rally. Halperin called on his supporters to come precisely to the Manezh Square and express their attitude there to the current political situation.
S. Udaltsov from the Left Front and the well-known blogger A. Navalny, the author of the meme "party of crooks and thieves", filed an application for the "March of Millions" from the metro station "Oktyabrskaya" to Bolotnaya Square, where the rally should take place. The consent of the city authorities to the time and place of the rally was obtained.
Information about the March quickly spread over the Internet. Opposition-minded citizens were going to come to Moscow on May 7 from other cities. Discussions conducted on social networks were monitored by law enforcement officials. As a result, protesters from other cities (Ryazan, St. Petersburg) were detained on departure from the city. The station was evacuated in Ufa.
The march started at about 16:00. At the approaches to Bolotnaya Square, the police blocked the entrance to the Bolshoi Kamenny Bridge, leaving a narrow passage. A huge mass of people could not squeeze into the "bottleneck" - most of him did not even suspect. As a result, a huge traffic jam formed - the back rows pressed forward, the front rows had nowhere to go. Mobile phones did not work in conditions of such a congestion of users. Loudspeakers were not heard already at a distance of ten meters. The organizers did not have other means of communication, such as walkie-talkies.
Udaltsov and Navalny demanded that the police remove the barriers and cordons and let the citizens go to an agreed rally. The police ignored the call. To prevent crowding and self-mutilation in the crowd, Udaltsov ordered to sit on the ground through the loudspeaker. The front rows heard him and sat down, but the movement of the rest of the column continued. Some protesters leaked to Bolotnaya through the narrow passage left by the police.
As the crush did not stop, the fences were torn down. Clashes between protesters and riot police began. The police used pepper gas; in response, improvised materials flew out from the crowd - cans, plastic bottles, sticks
.There is reason to believe that provocateurs acted. The NTV film crew also suffered - their car was thrown with garbage. Thus, the demonstrators expressed their attitude to the film "Anatomy of Protest", filmed by this channel.
Tough detentions of protesters, including Navalny, Udaltsov and Nemtsov, began. Several riot policemen were injured. 17 procession participants were hospitalized. By 20:00 the Swamp area was cleared of the protesters. Some of them moved to Manezhnaya Square, some went on a march along Bolshaya Ordynka towards the Kremlin. The detentions continued. In total, about 500 people were detained. The "March", according to organizers and the media, gathered about 50, 000 participants.
On the same day, from 18:00 to 19:00, a rally of the All-Russian Popular Front was held on Poklonnaya Hill. According to police, about 30, 000 people gathered, according to journalists and bloggers - about 3, 000. The rally was held peacefully, without violations. The participants held in their hands the flags of "United Russia", "Young Guard", "Russian Post", as well as posters in support of V.V. Putin. Exactly at the appointed time, the participants disciplinedly dispersed.
