Russian far right protest is racist rally - NGO
Source: Reuters
By Maria Golovnina MOSCOW, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Far right Russian groups marching in Moscow on Sunday for the release of alleged political prisoners are using the march as an excuse to hold a racist rally, human rights campaigners said on Friday. The Russian government has banned rallies by ultra-nationalists in the past after neo-Nazis and skinheads paraded through Moscow chanting racist slogans in 2005. Organisers of the protest said they had obtained a police permit to hold a rally in central Moscow and that there was no explicit racist content in the planned event. "We are expecting about 1,000 people," said Yevgeny Valyayev, a spokesman for the far-right Russian March movement. "This time we managed to get permission. There will probably be twice as many security forces there." The Russian March's Web site said protesters will appeal for the release of a number of Russian servicemen accused of killing civilians in Chechnya. Dmitry Rogozin, a nationalist member of parliament, is due to make a speech at the rally. Ex-Russian officer Eduard Ulman, accused of shooting Chechen civilians including a pregnant woman in 2002, is among the list of those they demand to be released. The Moscow Bureau for Human Rights, which runs an EU-sponsored anti-racism campaign in Russia, urged police to prevent any kind of racist behaviour during the Sunday rally. "We know what kind of slogans they usually chant. It's in their repertoire," said Semyon Charny, an expert from the non-governmental organisation. Rights activists say President Vladimir Putin's campaign to tighten immigration rules and ban foreigners from selling produce at open-air markets could fuel more racism in Russia. In October, President Putin urged ministers to "protect the native population" from criminal groups "with an ethnic flavour", a remark rights campaigners said could have been interpreted by far-right groups as an indirect call to arms.
| AlertNet news is provided by |  |
