UNREST

50,000 to Attend Protest in Moscow

Against parliamentary elections.

The streets of Moscow are expected to be taken over by demonstrators by Saturday as more than 50,000 people have announced their intentions to attend a protest. Protesters want the parliamentary election results overturned and for political prisoners to be released, and to encourage people to vote down Vladimir Putin’s potential return to office in the March elections. On Friday, President Dmitri Medvevdev submitted several rules to ease registration of political parties and presidential candidates. But opposition leader Vladimir Ryzhkov has said “it is not an answer – it’s not what Bolotnaya expects and now what Sakharov Prospect expects. Medvevdev didn’t answer a host of our demands.”