On Saturday August 26 scores of mostly young people gathered in Moscow to march in defence of freedom of speech.  The internet has been one of the biggest targets for censorship and persecution by the Kremlin in recent months, after the Russian parliament passed a number of controversial laws making internet users liable for huge fines for so-called ‘misinformation’. 

As is customary these days at demonstrations in Russia, National Guard officers were ready well in advance and waiting for demonstrators as they exited the metro.  The demonstration had been pre-planned to take place on Sakharov prospect, one of the authorities’ favourite places for sanctioned demonstrations in Moscow, which can be fenced off and made accessible only through large metal-detectors.

The majority of people at the meeting were young people, the internet’s top demographic in Russia, who utilise the freedoms of the internet to engage in political life away from the nauseating mist of state television propaganda.

Supporters of PARNAS, Alexey Navalny and Open Russia were among those carrying placards with slogans such as: “I do not want to live in fear”, “Hands off the internet!” and “The internet is ours!”.  Meanwhile, the march was accompanied by music and public speeches as armoured police officers looked on.

One young person interviewed by an Open Russia correspondent stated that “Going to demonstrations has become fashionable, I attend fairly regularly.”  This statement testifies to the unprecedented number of young people attending Russian pro-freedom demonstrations in 2017.

Ranks of activists were handing out stickers with “We’ve had enough of surveillance”, while others handed out leaflets in support of Novaya Gazeta journalist Ali Feruz who was recently facing deportation to his come country of Uzbekistan where he faced serious persecution for his journalistic endeavours as well as his sexual orientation.

A stage was set up on which various speakers, from candidates in local municipal elections to human rights and political activists, addressed the crowd with speeches.  A banner was attached to the top of the stage saying “Don’t get rid of the internet, …”, however, police had been filmed cutting out the word “creeps” from the end of this sentence earlier in the day.

Рубрика “чем занята полиция в РФ”. Например, вырезают слово из транспаранта (митинг в защиту интернета) pic.twitter.com/aaV4rz8Bic

— Alexey Navalny (@navalny) August 26, 2017

Alexey Navalny Tweeted saying: The rubric “How do the Russian police keep busy?”.  For example: cutting out words from placards.

The speakers and demonstrators had one thing in common: they were demanding freedom of speech for the internet.  Recent laws passed in Russia have made freedom of speech on the internet practically impossible, after a bill was passed that allowed courts to prosecute and issue huge fines for ‘misinformation’ and other such legally vague violations, which leave regular internet users vulnerable to prosecution.

Artem Kozliuk, head of the “RosKomSvoboda” (Free Russian Communications) opened the event with a speech: “Today our government lives in a state of doublethink.  On one side, our Constitution forbids censorship.  On the other side, under the pretext of child protection, each year more and more laws are passed which impose limitations on the internet.”

Immediately after the speech demonstrators began to run towards the exit where the first detentions were taking place.  Riot police officers were escorting a young girl to a police van under cries of “shame!” from onlookers.  Figures later showed that in Moscow alone over 17 people were detained, including Open Russia’s Nikita Safronov.

Tatiana Fedorova, wife of the mathematician imprisoned for ‘extremism’, Dmitry Bogatov, was next to take to the stage with a passionate warning to all about the real consequences of censorship.  “What happened to my husband could happen to any one of you here. All because of one picture, or one unfortunate word, officers from the Investigative Committee can raid your house in the middle of the night.  Instead of working on your dissertation, instead you’ll have to prove why you’re not guilty.”

In recent years countless people have been targeted for their online activity, often for ‘crimes’ as small as re-Tweeting a video from a popular American comedy show which apparently constituted ‘extremist material’.  The threat to freedom and privacy on the internet is becoming a real danger as more and more people receive prison sentences for posting unacceptable words or pictures on their private social media accounts.

The demonstration closed with a collective chant “This is Russia, not China!”.  Demonstrations also took place across other Russian cities including St. Petersburg, Ekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Yaroslavl and Vladivostok.  Protest was widespread and remains so, but the message is the same: no to censorship and no to the suppression of freedom of speech.