A protester wearing a Guy Fawkes mask takes part in a demonstration for fair elections in central Moscow Saturday.
Updated at 5:05 a.m. ET: Tens of
thousands of people are now in downtown Moscow, The Associated Press
reports, despite temperatures of minus 4 Fahrenheit. Banners and
placards read "Russia Without Putin!" and "For Free Elections."
The AP says the rally appears to be bigger than one in December that
organizers claimed attracted 120,000 people, which was the biggest
demonstration in Russia since the protests 20 years ago that helped
bring about the collapse of the Soviet Union.
"So many of us have come that they can't arrest all of us," protester Alexander Zelensky, 56, tells the news service.
Original post: Thousands of people marched
in Russian capital Moscow Saturday in a pro-democracy protest over the
power of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, according to reports.
BBC News said people were taking part in the "For Honest Elections" rally despite expected temperatures as low as minus 2 degrees Fahrenheit.
"The main thing is for people not to catch pneumonia ... Three hours
in the cold is a serious thing," Boris Nemtsov, a liberal politician and
protest organizer, told the BBC.
"I have the feeling that every degree colder it gets, we lose 5,000 people," he added, according to Reuters.
The broadcaster said Kaluzhskaya Square was filling up with people
midday Saturday. Many carried white balloons, the color adopted by the
movement.
Russia Today reported
that organizers were expecting about 50,000 people to take part in the
event, which it summed up with the headline "Frozen fury."
It said there were due to be rallies at Bolotnaya Square and Pushkinskaya Square.
Demand for election re-run
Russia Today also said supporters of the pro-government
Patriots of Russia movement were gathering on Poklonnaya Hill Saturday
to "protest against the so-called Orange moods in the country and show
people we have a lot to lose."
The color orange was used in neighboring Ukraine during anti-government political protests in 2004 and 2005.
Russia Today reported Putin had voiced his support for them. "The
people heading to Poklonnaya Hill are going there to state their sincere
anti-Orange position. I am grateful to them and I share their views,"
he told Interfax news agency.
Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin had some different advice.
"Real Russian patriots should stay at home and make babies... not
loiter at demonstrations," he was quoted as saying by state RIA news
agency.
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