Thousands rallied in Moscow on Monday in support of internet freedom after Russian authorities tried to block access to the popular messaging app Telegram in the latest onslaught against dissent under Vladimir Putin. In an unusually strong turnout, around 10,000 people including top opposition leader Alexei Navalny turned up in the centre of the Russian capital, many holding placards and shooting paper airplanes, the Telegram symbol.
Many called for Putin's resignation. A volunteer movement that counts attendees at opposition rallies said more than 10,000 people turned up. Police said 7,500 attended.
"Big moron is not blocking you", read one sign making light of the botched effort by authorities to block the Telegram messaging service in Russia. Some in the mostly young crowd chanted "Don't stay silent" and "Putin is a thief."
Protesters said they did not want the state to tell them what to read online. "Everyone needs to have a choice," Tatyana Filatova, a retiree, told AFP.
"When we live in accordance with a strict set of rules, life becomes boring and the sky grey." Navalny addressed the huge crowd from the stage, urging it to resist the authorities he called "swindlers and thieves".
"I will not put up with this silently," he bellowed into the microphone. "Will you put up with this?" he asked the demonstrators. "No," they roared back, chanting "Down with the tsar!"
Under Putin, who was re-elected for a fourth Kremlin term last month, top television channels and most newspapers have been muzzled, with internet remaining the only public venue for free self-expression. But over the past months the authorities have moved in on the Russian internet, with the telecoms watchdog saying Facebook could also be blocked if it did not comply with local legislation.
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