Putin Returns to Scenes of Violence

The palace gleamed, the guns blasted, the applause thundered. For those of you who have not as of yet seen Putin’s pomp-ridden but somewhat peremptory inauguration ceremony this morning, you can do so here.  Yesterday of course, Moscow’s streets played host to a rather different spectacle than that of the President’s sleek motorcade.  Ten of thousands of citizens, from all parts of Russia, gathered to demonstrate against the return of the king.  An atmosphere of violence as of yet unseen in the previous rallies was reported (prompting journalist Masha Gessen, who described her experience of the rally here, to suggest she will not return to another as long as Putin is in power.)  More than 400 people were arrested and dozens injured.  Below video footage from Novaya Gazeta gives an impression of the turbulent scenes: