Tumbling living standards spark national day of wrath

Thousands of people across Russia took to the streets yesterday demanding the resignation of Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, in the largest show of discontent since he came to power more than a decade ago.

Opposition movements called the nationwide "Day of Wrath" to express growing discontent at falling living standards following years of oil-fuelled growth.

The protests followed weeks of sustained demonstrations across Russia that have riled a leadership that does not forgive displays of unrest.

Cries of "Freedom" and "Putin resign" filled the main square in Kaliningrad, where up to 5000 people gathered in pouring rain.

The Baltic territory, which is nestled between Poland and Lithuania and separated from the Russian mainland, has been the site of some of the largest protests.

"We want the Government to start treating us like people, not like slaves," said Kirill, a 22-year-old student. Protesters called for free elections and complained about widespread corruption, high unemployment and rising prices.

Russia's first major anti-Putin demonstration was held in Kaliningrad on January 30, drawing 12,000 people and shocking local leaders and the Kremlin.

"It really surprised us," said Konstantin Polyakov, deputy head of the regional Parliament, or Duma, and member of the ruling United Russia party. "We didn't think so many people would turn out, to be honest."

The Kremlin was obviously shaken, dispatching a high-level delegation to the Baltic exclave and firing its Kaliningrad adviser, Oleg Matveichev.

Yesterday's protest had been banned, and opposition leaders withdrew calls for an organised demonstration, fearing violence. Yet several thousand showed up anyway, organising through the internet and word of mouth.

"The general public in the regions is beginning to recognise that it is Putin who is to blame for various troubles they have - increased cost of living, communal tariffs, taxes and no growth in real wages," said Vladimir Milov, a co-leader of Solidarity, an umbrella opposition movement.

Regional and local elections held on March 14 appear to support that theory.

United Russia, the party created with the sole purpose of supporting Putin's rule, garnered unprecedentedly low results, losing its majority in four of eight regions and giving up the mayorship of Irkutsk, Siberia's largest city, to a Communist candidate who took 62 per cent of the vote.

In Kaliningrad, protesters wore badges criticising United Russia and held aloft mandarins, the fruit that has come to symbolise the region's unpopular governor, Georgy Boos, a Muscovite appointed by Putin.

Few, even those in opposition, believe the Putin Government will fall.

"It will take time," Milov said. "But just two years ago it would have been impossible to imagine mass demonstrations making political demands like the resignation of Putin's Government."

A poll by Russia's Public Opinion Foundation found 29 per cent of Russians were ready to take part in protests.

- OBSERVER