Monday, June 28, 2021

Russia: Police attacks Communist Party rally in Moscow

Photo: kommersant.ru
Following a call by the Communist Party of the Russian Federation (CPRF) for a rally in Moscow on Saturday, around a thousand people gathered at the capital's Pushkinskaya Square. 

The reason for the demonstration was the decision of the Moscow authorities, according to which mandatory vaccination quotas are prescribed in the healthcare, transport and other sectors and if these are not met, companies can fire their non-vaccinated employees. 

According to the CPRF this as an unconstitutional requirement at the expense of the workers.

However, despite its peaceful nature, the rally called by the CPRF, the Komsomol Youth Association, the All-Russian Women's Union and the Union of Soviet Officers, was violently attacked by police forces while several protesters were detained. In total there were around a dozen arrests, including 63-year-old Nikolai Zubrilin, chairman of the CPRF in the Moscow City Duma. 

The CPRF, which recently held its 18th party congress, sees the way to fight the pandemic, in addition to voluntary vaccinations, above all in restoring a free public health system and withdrawing the disastrous policies (i.e. hospital closings, downsizing, etc.) of the past decades. The party also calls for an increase in the production of the pharmaceutical industry in Russia itself.

kprf.ru / zeitungderarbeit.at