canadian goose jacket warrior turns to politics to challenge Putin
KHIMKI, Russia (Reuters) Russian environmentalist and protest leader Yevgeniya Chirikova had not even Canada Goose Outlet made it to the local election headquarters to register as a Canada Goose online candidate on Monday before opponents ran up and showered her with fake $100 bills as she spoke to reporters.
Opposition activist Yevgeniya Chirikova canada goose uk shop (L, front) walks beside an activist (2nd R, front) from a pro Kremlin civil organization, after visiting an election commission office in cheap Canada Goose the town of Khimki outside Moscow August 27, 2012. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
cheap Canada Goose The aim was clear: to damage her campaign to become mayor of Khimki, a town just outside northwestern Moscow, by portraying her as a tool of the United States, which President Vladimir Putin has accused of fomenting opposition to his 12 year rule.
Canada Goose sale Chirikova, one of the leading lights of protests this year against Putin, initially looked flustered as banknotes blew around her. flag behind her and tried to push a small Stars and Stripes into her hand for the cameras.
more they oppress us, the more it shows we are right to really cause them buy canada goose jacket cheap trouble, Chirikova, 35, told Reuters before registering her candidacy in Khimki, a town of 200,000 dominated by high rise apartment blocs.
canada goose fear nothing. I really don know what could stop me now, she said.
canada goose coats Chirikova, who became one of the Kremlin most strident critics canada goose clearance sale by organizing protests against the construction of a road through canada goose clearance a forest near Khimki, is the most prominent opposition politician running in local polls on October 14.
Canada Goose online The election will also test the Kremlin willingness to tolerate an opposition challenge at the polls after a series Canada Goose Online of moves which the opposition has depicted as a crackdown on dissent since Putin returned to the presidency in May.
canada goose store Opposition activist Yevgeniya Chirikova (L) files an application at an election cheap canada goose uk commission office in the town of Canada Goose sale Khimki outside Moscow August 27, 2012. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov
Canada Goose Outlet OPPOSITION TO HIGHWAY Chirikova has burnished her opposition credentials in the past eight months, helping organize the anti Putin protests that began last December over allegations of fraud in a parliamentary election, canada goose outlet at times addressing buy canada goose jacket the large crowds they attracted.
Canada Goose Parka She sees her foray into politics partly as a continuation of her campaign to improve the environment.
have canadian goose jacket yellow water in our sinks, horrible traffic jams, no traffic lights, she said. would like my child to be able to canada goose coats go to school safely. I would like to turn this city into a place where all mothers will be free of those fears.
canada goose black friday sale Her life changed when she noticed during a walk in the forest near her Khimki apartment five years ago that some of the trees had been marked for what she later learned was demolition to make way for a highway.
canada goose clearance sale The number of protesters peaked at about 3,000, witnesses said, after https://www.cheapcanadagoose.net a camp they had set up in the forest was raided canada goose store by masked men.
A journalist who supported the protests and one of the protesters were badly beaten in separate incidents and Canada Goose Jackets left with brain damage. The culprits were never identified, and detentions were frequent at rallies against the building of the road.
buy canada goose jacket cheap Social services threatened at one stage uk canada goose outlet to take Chirikova canada goose black friday sale two children into custody, accusing her Canada Goose Coats On Sale of neglect, she said.
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canada goose coats on sale But her protest movement uk canada goose established Chirikova as one of the leading voices of the opposition and is often cited by protest leaders as having played a vital role in the birth of a civil society in Russia after decades of Soviet rule.
Her chances of success are hard to gauge as there are no independent opinion polls in an election campaign that is just starting. She won 15 percent of votes when she ran for mayor of Khimki in 2009, seven percentage points fewer than the canada goose winner.
Canada Goose Jackets The main electoral issues in Russia are typically economic concerns but an opinion poll released by the independent Levada research group in 2010 showed that three quarters of Khimki residents opposed the new road.
buy canada goose jacket SEEKING UNITY The Khimki election race could become another canada goose factory sale test of Putin readiness to tolerate dissent after a summer in which parliament rushed through several laws seen by the opposition as intended to restrict their actions such as tightening control of the Internet, which is used to spread word of protest rallies, and increasing potential fines for protesters.
A Moscow court also handed a two year jail term this month to three women from Canada Goose Parka the Pussy Riot punk band who sang a profanity laced song against Putin in a Russian Orthodox church, a sentence criticized as harsh abroad although opinion polls showed few Russians sympathized with the way they protested.
The Kremlin denies launching any crackdown on dissent and says it had no say in the Pussy Riot verdict. It also portrays the opposition as too disunited and short of ideas to mount canada goose uk black friday a serious threat to Putin, pointing out canada goose coats on sale that he won nearly two thirds of the votes cast in the March 4 presidential election.
canada goose clearance Kremlin sources say Putin won considerable support by attacking the West during his election campaign and accusing protest leaders of being foreign governments stooges.
But the opposition has already had some electoral success since the presidential canada goose uk outlet poll, notably defeating United Russia candidate in the mayoral race in Yaroslavl, north of Moscow.
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