Dissenters March
Protesters at the meeting near Gostiny Dvor, Saint Petersburg, March 3, 2007
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| Native name | Марш несогласных |
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| Date | December 16, 2006 – May 19, 2007 |
| Location | Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Chelyabinsk |
The Dissenters' March (Russian: Марш несогласных) was a series of Russian opposition protests that took place on December 16, 2006 in Moscow, on March 3, 2007 in Saint Petersburg, on March 24 in Nizhny Novgorod, on April 14 for the second time in Moscow, on April 15 again in Saint Petersburg, on May 18 in Samara, and on May 19 in Chelyabinsk. Some of them were featured in various media outlets.
It was preceded by opposition rallies in Russian cities in December 2005 which involved fewer people.
Most of the protests were unsanctioned. Usually the authorities of the cities where the march was expected to take place have proposed protesters to meet at some more peripheral place and forbade processions. However, according to Russian legislation, organizers of a march should merely inform the authorities of the upcoming event and do not need a sanction, while the authorities have no right to prohibit a march in the specific places where it has been planned by the opposition, and demonstrators have usually defied the ban (apart from the rally in Saint Petersburg on April 15, 2007).
Since 2009, instead of dissenters marches, Russian opposition has held Strategy-31 rallies, though some of them have been accompanied by attempts of processions.
The first march of the series took place in Moscow on December 16, 2006.
The first march in Saint Petersburg took place on Saturday, March 3, 2007.
Taking place a year before the presidential election scheduled on March 2, 2008, the St. Petersburg protest also came ahead of the local elections to the Saint Petersburg Legislative Assembly to be held on March 11, 2007. While leaders of Communist party and democratic Union of Right Forces which were going to contest for votes didn't take part in the march (as well as other major parties), the action was joined by St. Petersburg department of social-liberal party Yabloko which had been eliminated from the upcoming local legislative election for technical reasons earlier in February.
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