Meeting for freedom and democracy

A meeting "for democracy and against lawlessness and high-handedness" arranged by the Russian Democratic Yabloko Party was held in Moscow, on Pushkinskaya Square, on November 7. "I think all of you know Russia is waging war in Chechnya. Weeping mothers, weeping young wives come to our committees of soldier's mothers everyday. People are killed, people disappear. Who is waging this war? You know the answer. Who is against this war? The Yabloko Party, the Union of Right Forces (SPS) and all the committees of soldier's mothers are. We are starting our election campaign today, and I ask you candidly, I demand and insist - please, do vote for those who are against the war, who are for peace," Chairwoman of the Union of Committees of Soldier's Mothers Valentina Melnikova declared in her speech at the meeting.

Yabloko, SPS, the Committee "For Civil Rights", the Moscow Helsinki Group, the Human Rights Center "Memorial", the Transnational Radical Party, well-known human rights activists, public figures, journalists and writers were participants in the meeting. There were from 1 to 2 thousand demonstrators, according to different sources.