Thousands to Rally in Moscow on May Day

Tens of thousands of demonstrators of various political stripes are expected to take to central streets Thursday for rallies and protests on the May Day holiday.

The Communists are expecting 50,000 demonstrators to gather at Kaluzhskaya Ploshchad at 10 a.m. Thursday and march to Teatralnaya Ploshchad, where Communist Party leader Gennady Zyuganov will address the crowd, a party spokeswoman said Monday.

The demonstration will likely feature anti-government sentiment. Several hundred activists from left-wing youth groups are expected to participate in the march, including Red Youth Vanguard, whose web site promises a “Day of Anger” with the slogan “Down With Succession to the Throne!”

President-elect Dmitry Medvedev, President Vladimir Putin’s handpicked successor, is to take office May 7.

A less confrontational rally will join together almost 30,000 activists from the pro-Kremlin party United Russia and the pro-government Federation of Independent Trade Unions, spokespeople for both organizations said.

The demonstrators will gather at Belorussky Station at 9 a.m. and march down 1st Tverskaya-Yamskaya and Tverskaya Ulitsa to the Mayor’s Office, said Natalya Burtseva, a spokeswoman for United Russia’s Moscow branch.

Between 3,000 and 4,000 United Russia activists will march, Burtseva said. Around 25,000 trade unionists will participate, Mikhail Shmakov, a spokesman for the trade union federation, told Interfax.

Children will also participate in the march, which will feature banners with slogans such as, “United Russia: Together We Will Win,” Burtseva said.

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Thousands to Rally in Moscow on May Day
The Moscow Times