Rallies take place in Chechnya to support extension of Putin's presidency By Ruslan Isayev
CHECHNYA – Around 20,000 people took part in three rallies that took place in Chechnya today in support of extending the term of Vladimir Putin’s presidency, the authorities said.
The Grozny rally was held at Sultan Belimkhanov Stadium. The organizers claim it was attended by more than 10,000 people. However, a rally participant told Prague Watchdog that the crowd on the football field amounted to no more than three or four thousand.
Almost all were students at Grozny’s three universities, who were released from their classes in order to attend the event. "We were let off lessons, put into buses and taken to the stadium, where we stood for about an hour with little flags of the Unified Russia party. Some were given Russian flags to wave and portraits of Putin to hold. I don’t know exactly what it was all about, but it was something to do with Putin," says Milana, a second-year student at university.
The rally participants adopted a resolution calling for the solidarity of their peers in other regions of Russia in the matter of the renewal of Putin's presidency.
In Chechnya, the initiative to extend the term in office of the President of the Russian Federation was first made in May this year by the republic’s Human Rights Ombudsman, Nurdi Nukhazhiyev (see).
(Translation by DM) (D/T) RELATED ARTICLES:
· 30,000 youths support extension of Putin's presidential term (Chechnya.gov.ru, 24.10.2007)
· Chechen ombudsman proposes doubling term of office of Chechen president and parliament (PW, 17.5.2007)
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