http://english.mn.ru/english/issue.php?2005-43-9
Communists Joined by Nationalists in New Holiday
By Anna Arutunyan and Oleg Liakhovich
Russians celebrated the Day of National Unity for the first time on Friday, as crowds of nationalists took to the streets commemorating what others have called an insignificant historical event in a larger military conflict, when militias chased out Polish troops in 1612.
Some 2,000 people - and an estimated 2,000 policemen deployed to keep them in line - took part in what was termed The Right March, involving such movements as the Eurasian Youth Union, the Movement Against Illegal Immigration, and other right-wing groups, carrying Orthodox icons and placards that read "Russia for the Russians!", "Glory to Russia," "Out with Illegal Migrants!", and "The Russians are Coming."
The nationalist rally marched from Chistye Prudy down to Slavyanskaya Square, in the heart of Moscow's center, commemorating another historical event. On the same day in 1905, demonstrators gathered in the capital demanding to free Russia from foreigners.
The protest was directly linked to the theme of the holiday. Generations of Russians have grown accustomed to celebrating the Bolshevik Revolution on Nov. 7. But President Vladimir Putin's government cancelled that holiday last year, replacing it with the obscure Day of National Unity, marking an event which purportedly hastened the end of the Time of Troubles between the Rurik and Romanov dynasties at the turn of the 17th century. And while independent polls say that most Russians don't have a clue what exactly they are celebrating on Nov. 4, the same polls also show that the idea of "Russia for Russians" is widely popular - with over half of respondents subscribing to it.
While Friday's march was nothing like a skinhead rally many have come to fear, it was not exactly peaceful, either. The well-organized political movements were joined by what appeared to be youths bearing swastikas. Also, activists of the liberal youth movement Oborona (Defense) who had been lying in wait for the marchers suddenly attacked them with water-filled condoms. Police promptly responded and detained the activists, who are mostly liberal-leaning western oppositionists. Indeed, the Eurasian Youth Union is headed by self-avowed "orange foe" Alexander Dugin, while Oborona has been identified as a source of a potential "orange revolution" in Russia that the nationalists, who view the concept as a foreign import, are prepared to fight.
But die-hard communists still made it out into the streets on Sunday for their traditional holiday, outnumbering the nationalists. Lead by Gennady Ziuganov and his Communist Party, an estimated 11,000 people gathered in central Moscow. They were joined by the radical National Bolshevik Party. MN
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