MOSCOW: Several thousand people protested Sunday across Russia against ahugely unpopular government decision to hike the pension age that has ledto a record slump in President Vladimir Putin´s approval ratings.
Rallying in dozens of cities from the far east and Siberia to central andsouthern Russia, many urged Putin to oust the government, while some calledon the Kremlin leader himself to “retire.”link#_>
Both Kremlin-friendly trade unions and political parties and Putin´s topcritic Alexei Navalny organised the rallies, in a rare show of unity andwidespread public opposition to the government proposal.
“Croak before retirement — help the budget,” read one placard, seen onpictures shared on social media.
“I will spend my first pension to buy a coffin if I live long enough,” saidanother.
Given Russians´ low life expectancy, many will not live long enough toreceive a state pension.
Analysts say that growing popular discontent over the reform amid plungingliving standards may present the most serious challenge to Putin during hisnearly 20 years in power.
Protesters rallied in the far-eastern cities of Vladivostok, Khabarovsk andKomsomolsk-on-Amur, the Siberian cities of Omsk and Tomsk and Murmansk inthe north, among other places.
Navalny said more than 3,000 people protested in Omsk alone, tweeting apicture of a city square flooded with people.
The demonstrations drew people from all sides of the political spectrumincluding Navalny´s supporters, Communists and radical nationalists.
Mass rallies will not take place in Moscow and other cities hosting theWorld Cup where protests are banned.
But one young Russian managed to evade police, take his clothes off andstage a one-man protest on Moscow´s Red Square, his head turned in theKremlin´s direction.
“They even took the clothes off our back,” read a sign he held to coverhimself.
The 28-year-old protester, Vyacheslav Shumsky, said on radio he wanted todraw public attention to a raft of unpopular government measures includingthe pension reform “so that we start doing something”