While all eyes were on the
massive December 24 protests in Moscow, Russian diaspora communities around the world expressed their solidarity by staging their own rallies.
Several dozen people picketed in front of the fortress-like Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., some singing, others discussing politics in their country of origin, and others holding signs that might compete for a spot on our
list of the best Russian protest signs. One read, "Vlad! Don’t dump on Hillary. Be a man!" -- a reference to Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s assertion that U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton gave protesters "a signal" to act (and a jab at Putin’s
well-documented need to play up his Y chromosome.)
Organized primarily via
Facebook, similar small protests took place on December 24 in cities such as New York and San Francisco, as well as in
Dublin, Ireland, Tel Aviv, Toronto, and elsewhere.
Demonstrators protest outside the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C.x
Demonstrators protest outside the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
The
historic Russian protests on December 10 resonated even more greatly within Russian communities abroad, drawing hundreds to the Russian Consulate in New York, as
this video shows.
Other protests, generally larger than those held on December 24, were also held on December 10 in cities as far from Moscow as Berlin, Limassol, Oslo, Rome, and Tokyo. This
large demonstration was held in London. The protests even received some coverage in the Russian press, such as in
this comprehensive slideshow.
-- Richard Solash