January 4, 2010 By Citizen M

RA’s Daily Russian News Blast – Jan 4, 2010

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TODAY: New Year’s opposition rally ends in detainment, greeted with international censure; sad new year for vodka drinkers as prices rise.  Yushchenko uses presence of Russian fleet as tool against rival Tymoshenko; the conundrum of teaching orthodoxy in schools; could political satire be returning to Russian screens?

According to ITAR-TASS, 30 New Year’s Eve marchers were detained by police during an opposition rally (or 60 according to the Other Russia), among them veteran 82-year old rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva, dressed as Snegurochka, Father Frost’s female assistant.  The unsanctioned rally was in protest against the government’s flouting of the 31st article of the Russian Constitution guaranteeing freedom of assembly.  The protesters were labeled ‘Bad Santa’ by the pro-Kremlin youth organization Young Russia, whose own rally was used by the town hall as a pretext for not allowing any others to take place.  The harsh treatment of the activists has prompted criticism from EU parliament president Jerzy Buzek, who described the police response as ‘totally disproportionate’.