Anti-Putin protesters form 16km human line

Tens of thousands of protesters held hands to form a 16km chain around central Moscow to keep up the pressure on Prime Minister Vladimir Putin as he prepares to extend his rule for six more years.

Putin, who was Russia’s president from 2000 to 2008, is running for a third, now six-year term in a Mar 4 election. He is expected to win easily against four Kremlin-approved challengers, but an unprecedented wave of protests has undermined his image as a strong leader who rules with broad public support.

The protest appeared to have drawn close to the 34,000 people that opposition activists estimated were needed to complete the chain along the Garden Ring, a wide road that makes a loop around the city centre. Almost all of the people standing in the snow wore the white ribbons that have become a symbol of the peaceful anti-Putin protest movement.

Young Putin supporters also were out on sections of the Garden Ring yesterday. Wearing heart-shaped red signs around their necks that said “Putin loves everyone”, they handed out similar ribbons in imitation of the protesters. Some passers-by refused to take the pro-Putin ribbons, which had stripes of white, blue and red like the national flag.