01 May 2004 08:28
Workers demand a decent wage during May Day rallies in Siberia
Russia is celebrating the holiday of spring and labour. May Day rallies and marches are already under way in the east
of our country.
Over 20,000 people have been taking part in the celebrations in central Vladivostok. There were no antigovernment
slogans. The demonstrators' main slogan was "Peace. Work. May", whereas in Omsk, the celebrations ended
up in a gathering criticizing the government. Trade unions representing teachers, doctors and industrial workers
demanded that public sector employees' wages be increased.
The demands [put forward] in Irkutsk were the same: decent pay is the way to overcome poverty. A total of 100,000
people took to the streets in this Siberian city.
In Moscow, some 20 parties have obtained permits to hold rallies. The demonstrators will march through Moscow's
central streets. The marches have not yet started but it is expected that by noon [0800 gmt] Muscovites will witness a
kind of a competition of political placards and slogans.
However, over half of Russians today believe that May Day has lost its former importance. The All-Russia Centre for
Studying Public Opinion has found that 60 per cent of Russians prefer working on their vegetable plots and cleaning
their flats to May Day rallies with colourful placards and carnations. Just two per cent of those polled said they
planned to take part in the rallies.
[Video: rallies, peoples holding balloons, red flags, placards; counter readings 0510-0630]
[NTV] |
RUSSIA IN FACTS
