Residents of Chechnya claim being forced to attend rally on Day of People's Unity

Today, in the centre of Grozny, a rally dedicated to the Day of People's Unity was held in the square in front of the Mosque "Heart of Chechnya". Tens of thousands of people attended the rally. Some participants of the rally told the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent that they were forced to come to the celebration of the Day of People's Unity.

"We have been warned that on November 4, we will have a day off, but by 10 a.m., we should arrive in the city centre to take part in the rally. I had to come to the square in front of the City Mayor's Office and the Mosque, since our bosses threatened us with problems for failure to appear at the event," said Roza, an employee of one of the national agencies.

"Everything was as usual. We were taken by bus to the centre, where a rally was held on the occasion of the Day of People's Unity. There, we were given flags and posters, portraits of Putin, Kadyrov, and the like, and we actively represented a crowd," said Khamzat, a student of one of the higher education institutions in Grozny.

"Almost every month, we are involved in some obscure events. Today, we've attended a rally. There were a lot of people there, the Minister of Press delivered his speech, and nothing special happened. In fact, everything went monotonous and in the same way. In our hands, we were holding flags of Russia, Chechnya and the 'Edinaya Rossiya' (United Russia) Party, portraits of Putin, Akhmat and Ramzan Kadyrov, and all kinds of posters and banners, distributed to us before the rally. Perhaps, it is interesting for young people to meet at the city centre on a day off, to talk to each other, to listen to singers, and to visit a cafe. To be honest, I have no craving for such activities for a long time already. However, I cannot ignore the event, since our bosses threaten us with dismissals," said Wakha, an employee of one of the local enterprises.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.