| The liberal YABLOKO party held a rally near the Prosecutor
General's Office headquarters on Thursday morning in protest at the latest
initiatives of President Vladimir Putin, in particular, his proposal to
scrap elections by popular vote for governors in Russia's 89 regions. The
rally was also supported by the Communist Party of Russian Federation (KPRF).
Protesters held placards reading "Putin is a Usurper!", "Putin,
Resign!" and photos of Putin made to look like Adolf Hitler. They
also glued leaflets with excerpts from the Constitution to the fence around
the Prosecutor General's office and threw paper planes made from pages
of the Constitution into the building's yard.
The rally, organised by YABLOKO, was sanctioned by the authorities.
However, initially it was planned as a protest against police arbitrariness
in Bashkortostan. Since the topic of the rally was changed, its organizers
may be fined for not sticking to the claimed topic of the protest.
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