Around 500 persons took part in the protest action against xenophobia, national intolerance and chauvinism staged in Maikop
ADYGEA, 1 February, Caucasus Times. On Wednesday, protest action against xenophobia, national intolerance and chauvinism took place on the main square of Maikop. Protest action was organized by Circassian Congress and Adyge Hase.
According to various estimates, at least 500 persons took part in the protest. It is worth of noting that snow on that day was more than 50 cm high in Maikop and many participants interpreted the fact that the main square was not cleared of the snow as an act of sabotage from the part of the city authorities, which allowed the protest action but at the same time did not take care of the participants of this action.
No speeches have been made during the meeting. Posters of the participants were saying: “National-chauvinism – no”, “Nationalism is destroying Russia”, “War in Adygea – no”, “Youth stands out for stability in the republic” and “What SS is trying to reach?” (notice form Caucasus Times – “SS”, most probably, “Soyus Slavyan” – that is, “Union of Slavs”).
Anatoly Osokin, deputy of State Council – Hase and head of parliamentary commission on legislation represented the opposition to the participants of the protest meeting. He accused organizers of the action of forcing young people to gather on the square – students of the local teacher training college were present at the meeting. Organizers opposed by saying that nobody forced young people to attend protest action. According to the organizers, mostly young people gathered on the square because of the fact that youth is particularly concerned about the future of the republic. Another Osokin’s argument was that nobody is going to liquidate the republic since the only point of the whole process is joining Krasnodar region and fighting corruption. Protesters opposed his opinion by saying that legislation of Adygea is now fully competible with the federal laws and therefore joining Krasnodar region can only be implemented if all districts of Adygea are joining Krasnodar region as separate territorial units. As far as fighting corruption is concerned, all numerous financial flows that produce corruption are concentrated in Moscow. This kind of discussion lasted till the very end of the protest action.
In the words of the organizers of the protest action, they are planning to continue protests on 8 February.