6月22日VOA聽力：俄羅斯大眾遊行請願 否決推舉舞弊
The protesters shouted "New Elections, NewElections," and their densely packed mass onSakharov Avenue reached 100,000 people, accordingto organizers, which would exceed the numbers whoshowed up to protest at a similar rally in Moscowtwo weeks ago. Russian police estimated thisSaturday's turnout at only 30,000. The crowdSaturday wanted free elections and protested the allegedly tainted victory on December 4 ofPrime Minister Vladimir Putin's United Russia party. A multicolored sea of flags - of liberals andcommunists, monarchists and anarchists - all waved at one rally for one goal: fair elections inRussia. Alexei Navalny, an internet blogger and rising star of the opposition, bellowed throughtowers of loudspeakers that enough people were gathered to storm Prime Minister Putin'soffices. He said that Russia's opposition is peaceful - for now. But he vowed that "next yearthe leaders will change." The United Russia party denies the charges of election fraud raised byNavalny and others. Saturday's mass rally indicated, though, how sharply the mood seems tohave turned against Putin. In a gathering peppered with homemade signs, one man carried aphotograph of Mr. Putin wearing a white winter shawl shaped like a condom. Many protesterswere insulted last week when Russia's Prime Minister joked that he confused their whiteribbons of peace with condoms. Bundled in wool scarves and parkas, the crowd rocked as onerapper ridiculed Putin and corruption in Russia. Mr. Putin has further insulted the protestmovement by using old Cold War charges to say that people were demonstrating for moneyand that they only hit the streets after U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave the signal.Grigory Nikolaevich Zaichenko, a 61-year-old retiree, walked the edges of the crowd holding upa sign that asked, "Where is the money Hillary is handing out?" He said the combination ofblatant fraud and the new ability to communicate through the internet meant that people'spatience has run out. The Kremlin apparently hoped to cut the protest turnout by issuing astatement Saturday morning saying that the government is hurrying through new laws that willliberalize the registration of parties and presidential candidates. But hours before the rally, thepresidential human rights panel that advises the Kremlin called for the resignation of Russia'selection chief and for new parliamentary elections. In another reflection of the opposition'sgrowing strength, Alexei Kudrin, a former finance minister, spoke at the rally. He called fordismissal of the election commissioner and new parliamentary elections. Looking out at thecrowd that stretched for nearly one kilometer, Kudrin said that only dialogue between theopposition and the Kremlin would avoid revolution. But Leonid Parfyonov, a TV journalist,warned attendees that Russia's drive for democracy is now or never. He said if Putin wins asix-year term in the March 4 presidential election, his time in office could equal that of the long-serving Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev. Mikhail Kasyanov, a former Prime Minister, offered theopposition's road map for Russia's political future: Postpone presidential elections to the end ofApril; and new, fair and open parliamentary elections next December. Andrei, a 28-year-oldcompany worker, said he came to the rally to demand the cancellation of the recentparliamentary elections. We think that parliamentary election results were a fake actually, so wewant the results canceled. Reflecting the nationwide nature of the protest movement,demonstrations were also held Saturday in St. Petersburg and dozens of other Russian cities.By far the biggest was in Moscow, on Sakharov Avenue, a broad boulevard named after theSoviet dissident, Andrei Sakharov. Ilya, a 31-year-old arts worker, came to the rally with ablack-and-white photo of Sakharov pinned to his parka. He said that many of Sakharov'sdemocracy slogans from the Soviet perestroika period are relevant to Russia today. In areminder that Russia, the world's biggest country, can make large and sudden politicalchanges, this Sunday, Christmas Day, marks 20 years since former Soviet leader MikhailGorbachev appeared on national television and dissolved the Soviet Union. James Rock, VOAnews, Moscow.
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