Reply #3: Aljazeera: Nationwide protests under way in Russia. Moscow rally against "poll fraud"

[pampango]

by ruling party set to attract 30,000 people, with protests in several other cities.

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2011/12/2011121053755418485.html

Protests in Russia are taking place against Vladimir Putin's 12-year rule amid signs of swelling anger over a poll won by his ruling United Russia party with the alleged help of widescale fraud.

Moscow authorities gave permission for 30,000 people to gather on a square across the river from the Kremlin on Saturday, after detaining some 1,600 activists over the past few days who joined unsanctioned rallies against the December 4 vote. ... A 30,000-strong demonstration would be the largest to hit the Russian capital in 20 years, in what some see as the first warning bell for the former foreign agent and his secretive inner circle of security chiefs.

The opposition is also organising rallies in at least 14 other major cities in a rare outpouring of mistrust in a system put in place by Putin when he first became president in 2000.

Al Jazeera’s Neave Barker, reporting from Moscow, said: "Troops from the interior ministry and water cannons are also on standby in Moscow. "I do think, that if the protestors try and widen the rally, then there could well be a clampdown."

Includes a video report from Aljazeera.