11.03.09

"What do you think of the people participating in rallies and manifestations against the falling living standards and therefore trying to defend their rights?" Levada-Center sociologists asked 1,600 respondents between February 20 and 23. Nineteen percent admitted feeling respect for the protesters and 41% said they fully understood them. Seven percents admitted interest. Not a single respondent said that street protests were an affront to be put an end to. Twenty-six percent admitted indifference.

Answers to an analogous question concerning street actions in support of the government were different: 31% declared support, 11% sneered, and 41% were indifferent.

Protest expectations greatly increased over the last couple of months. Possibility of protests was recognized by 18% respondents in November, 20% in December, and 39% in February. Readiness to join protests was declared by 20% in December and 23% nowadays.

Expectations of these protests are particularly considerable in cities with the population between 100,000 and 500,000 or more but not in Moscow. Readiness to protest was mostly admitted by residents of small townships (27-28%) where sympathy with street protests was particularly strong (66%).

"That's potential energy rather than actual willingness to protest," Levada-Center Assistant Director Aleksei Grazhdankin said. "There were even more sympathizers in the 1990s but actual participation in the protests then was nothing to write home about. I'd rather say that results of the opinion poll indicate the general mood of society and its attitude toward anti-crisis policy of the government and splendiferous actions in its support."

Ilya Yashin of the Solidarity Movement, one of the most active protesters, said the next wave of protests was expected in the regions (as opposed to the capitals) in April and May. Protests would probably take place in the Far East, Nizhny Novgorod, Yaroslavl, and Sochi. "It is absence of legitimate opposition and genuine trade unions that makes street protests the only option," Yashin said.

Vadim Soloviov of the Central Committee of the CPRF said a nationwide protest action was planned for late March. Between 2 and 2.5 million people throughout the country participated in the protests the Communists organized on January 31. The CPRF counts on 7-8 million protesters in late March.

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Source: “Vedomosti”