Very bad news from Russia

On 16 November 2011 St. Petersburg Legislative Assembly passed in its first reading a law prohibiting propaganda of homosexuality, lesbianism, transsexuality and pedophilia and introducing fines for such actions. The law is expected to come into force in December 2011. Discussion of St. Petersburg law provoked intensive debates in the Russian media and society. According to its authors it will be used to ban any public events of sexual minorities in the city.

Speaker of Moscow City Duma Vladimir Platonov said in the interview that the law banning propaganda of homosexuality to minors will definitely be passed in Moscow. The next day he was supported by other local parliamentarians who said they are working on such a law to be introduced in Moscow City Duma.

On 17 November Speaker of Russian Upper Chamber of Parliament Valentina Matvienko supported introduction of a similar law on federal level.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N3TOsbnSpyE

As seen in this video, the police cracked down very hard on dissent. Whether it is the representatives of the LGBT community or the opposition.

December 4, 2011 in Russia held elections to the Parliament. At stake were the 450 seats in the State Duma, the lower house of the Federal Assembly of Russia (the legislature). United Russia won the elections with a 49.54% share of votes (238 seats), down from 64.30% in the 2007 elections. The Communist Party of the Russian Federation received 19.16% (92 seats), while the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia got 11.66% (56 seats) and A Just Russia 13.22% (64 seats). Other parties did not cross the 7% election threshold.

According to the web sites, Mr. Putin's party (or, as they call it Russians "party of crooks and thieves'), scored from 6 to 15% of the vote. Everything else - the results of fraud and massive violations of the election.

Left Front, Solidarity and other non-systemic opposition forces earlier said they had agreed with the authorities on a rally by 300 in Revolution Square on Saturday, 10 December. There is little doubt the promised 300 will be there - in the specially created groups on Facebook and VKontakte approximately 60 thousand have had themselves registered. Of these, about 35,000 vowed to go to the Moscow rally, said the radio station Ekho Moskvy. Another 8,000 said in Facebook that they "may come." The registration is continuing.

Meanwhile, over the two previous days of protests the police set a record: they detained nearly one thousand. All are charged with disobeying police and jailed for a maximum of 15 days. All in all, since the date of the elections the number of detainees, according to media reports, has approached 1,200. Among the detainees there were several journalists who were at the rallies on assignment from their editorial boards.

Support for the protest action due Saturday has been expressed by the Russian federation of car owners. "On December 10 we are going to stage a motor procession in the center of Moscow and a rally in Revolution Square against election violations. We intend to support the action with our participation," said the association’s leader Sergei Kanayev.

In Russia, the revolution begins!

And only the government depends, can be avoided casualties, cancel illegal elections and come to a compromise!
 
The first reaction to something like this is speechlessness. I always feel so sad and angry when I witness so much ignorance, bias and prejudice. Stay strong! Speak up! Try to change something for the better. The last quote in the video is so, so true... I know what I am talking about, my grandfather was one of those who stayed silent far too long.
 
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