An estimated two thousand people attended a protest in the Siberian city of Irkutsk on Saturday, and another 1200 people attended an unrelated protest in the city of Samara on the same day. Among other demands, both groups had harsh criticism for the prime minister and called for him to immediately step down.

In Irkutsk, residents, workers, and environmental activists gathered to protest the reopening of the controversial Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill. After decades of protests, operations at the mill were finally suspended in October 2008 due to environmental concerns regarding the mill’s discharge of toxic waste into Lake Baikal, the world’s largest freshwater lake and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. However, a decree signed by Prime Minister Putin in mid-January allowed the mill to reopen, sparking renewed outrage from citizens and environmental activists internationally.

A coalition of ecological and civic organizations organized Saturday’s protest, and politicians from the local legislative assembly and Moscow showed up to support the effort. Leader Sergei Mitrokhin of the liberal Yabloko Party and co-leader Vladimir Milov of the Solidarity opposition movement were among those present. Activists from the banned National Bolshevik Party also attended the protest, holding a banner reading “People! Baikal! Victory!” – the acronym of which matches with the acronym of their party name in Russian.

Protesters singled out oligarch Oleg Deripaska, who has control over the mill, and Prime Minister Putin, who they accuse of covering up Deripaska’s unethical business practices, as the main targets of their enmity.

Irkutsk city officials had warned prior to the rally that security would be tight. Blaming “the current economic situation of Russia” for an increase in opposition protests, Deputy Internal Minister Mikhail Sukhodolsky promised that “no excuses will be accepted” for failures of the police to curb demonstrations.

Given that, the city dispatched a number of armored military vehicles to flank the demonstration. Photographs published online of the vehicles, one of which resembles a small tank, were decried on Tuesday by the Russian Internal Ministry as “provocational and not corresponding to reality.” In a statement to Kasparov.ru, Solidarity activist Ilya Yashin maintained that “my colleague Vladimir Milov took these photographs, and many people saw these machines.”

The increase in police forces was especially notable because of the comparatively small security presence at a January 30 rally in Kaliningrad, where 12 thousand people gathered to protest rising tariffs and to demand the resignations of the prime minister and local Governor Georgy Boos.

Demonstrators at a counter-protest in Irkutsk organized by the pro-Kremlin United Russia party praised the reopening of the mill, with between a thousand and 1500 participants holding banners with the phrases “Baikalsk Pulp and Paper Mill – our life” and “Thanks to the government for the opportunity to work in Baikalsk.” One placard directed at opponents of the mill read “Suitcase – Station – UNESCO.”

In contrast to their choices during the Kaliningrad rally, the regional branches of the token opposition groups Liberal Democratic Party (LDPR) and A Just Russia sided with the United Russia counter-demonstration. State Duma Deputy and LDPR member Andrei Lugovoy, who is wanted by a British court for suspicion in the murder of Alexander Litvinenko, travelled from Moscow to address the crowd.

The second protest, in Samara, was initially intended to be held “in defense of constitutional rights and freedoms.” In addition, however, protesters turned out to voice their disapproval of numerous governmental practices, including rising housing and utilities tariffs, crumbling infrastructure, and the failed modernization of the local AvtoVAZ automobile manufacturer. Among their concrete demands were the return of direct gubernatorial elections and the resignations of Prime Minister Putin and Samara Governor Vladimir Artyakov, who is also the former head of AvtoVAZ.

A number of civic and labor organizations took part in the rally in Samara, including the All-Russian Strike Committee, which was invited by AvtoVAZ factory workers. According to Committee coordinator Nikolai Nikolaev, several groups of auto workers from the cities of Tolyatti and Syzran were unable to attend the demonstration because police had blocked off the road.

Given the failed modernization of the auto manufacturer, Nikolayev said after the rally, “people discussed the issue of how to live from now on. The AvtoVAZ workers said that the authorities are not dealing with their problems.”

In their own way of dealing with their problems, regional police in Samara are planning to initiate criminal charges against the rally’s organizers. During the demonstration, voters rights activist Aleksandr Lashmankin called for participants to stage a repeat demonstration on March 5 – a statement that “was not covered in the application to hold the rally,” a police representative explained to the Interfax news agency.

We note the pathetic quality of the authorities’ excuses for harassment. They don’t even bother to pretend it’s anything other than pure provocation. As we have documented here, the Kremlin has done everything possible to limit attendance at the Samara march, which is taking place at the same time as the EU-Russia summit in that city. A march that was officially approved by city officials! Official statements from Garry Kasparov and others will follow.

Update: It appears the international media won’t ignore Putin’s latest attempt to crush every shred of opposition. Will Western leaders stand up? From Spiegel Online:

Russian opposition leaders, including Garry Kasparov, were arrested Friday morning on their way to Samara to protest an EU-Russia summit. The Kremlin doesn’t want images of police beating up protestors to be beamed around the world. But Angela Merkel has lodged a protest of her own with Vladimir Putin.

From the Associated Press:

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, whose country holds the European Union presidency, complained at the post-summit news conference that opposition activists were being prevented from traveling for the protest.

“I’m concerned about some people having problems in traveling here,” Merkel told reporters. “I hope they will be given an opportunity to express their opinion.”

Merkel’s remark came amid a sometimes fractious exchange between Putin and EU leaders at the news conference over Russia’s democratic freedoms and the government’s treatment of critics.

Putin said his government does not fear protests, but insisted that opponents of the government must abide by the law, and blamed some violence on demonstrators.

And what violence would that be, Mr. President? Other Russia is proud of our perfect record of non-violence in the Dissenters’ Marches. All of the violence has been on the part of the police — much of it very well documented in the press. We appreciate Chancellor Merkel taking notice of this crackdown, but it will take a lot more than hope for us to have a free voice in Russia. As long as EU leaders continue to pretend Putin is a democratic leader in a democratic country their continue “concern” isn’t worth a counterfeit ruble.

The Other Russia had agreements with two local radio stations and a local TV station to run our commercials advertising the march. All have been dropped without explanation. Even the local Echo of Moscow station refuses to air a paid commercial for an officially approved rally. It goes without saying they must have been put under tremendous pressure. And due to the confiscations of materials and detention of staff, for the first time we were unable to publish our newsletter to promote the march.

This level of harassment exceeds that of all previous events. The Kremlin wants to keep the streets clear of protestors while the EU-Russia summit continues in Samara, but without formally banning — or beating — our activists in front of their European guests. Garry Kasparov arrives in Samara on Friday morning with an entourage of mostly Western journalists (the Kremlin has nothing to fear from their pet Russian press). Will Putin’s security forces arrest him on more concocted charges? Will Merkel and the other EU representatives in Samara turn a blind eye as peaceful opposition activists are swept from the streets by security forces?

However, the government allowing the march does not mean allowing the marchers to attend it or the citizens of Samara to learn about it. The arrests, detentions, confiscations, and harassment continue unabated. Yesterday, the editor of the Samara edition of Novaya Gazeta, Sergei Kurt-Adzhiyev, his daughter Anastasia, and several other journalists were detained. Anyone producing or distributing our materials is vulnerable to harassment. Anastasia Kurt-Adzhiyev was distributing flyers promoting the rally at the time she was detained. She and rally organizer Yuri Chervinchuk were picked up, according to police, because they might have had grenades in their bags. And jet fighters in their pockets, no doubt. We reiterate that every one of our Marches of Dissent have been entirely peaceful on the part of the marchers. All the violence has been on the police side of the lines.

Computers at Novaya Gazeta have been confiscated to prevent the release of the publication, which dared to mention that an opposition rally was to take place in the city. (The official pretext was a search for pirated software!) Many other activists have been detained. The representatives of Lyudmila Alekseeva of the Moscow Helsinki Foundation human rights group were arrested upon their arrival at the Samara train station, having been advised twice that there would be in trouble if they continued their journey. Another was suddenly called up to the army and taken away. One student activist was expelled from university on the grounds — and so stated — for his participation in Other Russia.To show up in Samara under these circumstances takes tremendous courage. Our activists continue to labor under great pressure and we salute them and thank them. Radio Echo in Samara has helped us a great deal and so far the local AVTO Radio has accepted our commercial. [ Update: AVTO, Radio Echo, and a local TV station have now all refused to run our commercials inviting people to attend the march. A march approved by the city government! ]

The organization Reporters Without Borders released a statement on the situation in Samara. An excerpt:

“We are outraged to see that even important international meetings do not prevent the political authorities from harassing leaders of the Other Russia coalition who are organising a protest march (although it has been authorised) and the journalists who have interviewed them,” the press freedom organisation said. “This is a flagrant violation of human rights and civil liberties, and we urge all human rights activists to be especially vigilant in the coming months, which will be decisive for Russia’s future.”

Reporters Without Borders added: “The record of the last seven years confirms our conviction that Vladimir Putin is an enemy of press freedom. It is our duty to appeal for solidarity with Russian human rights activists and journalists so that they do not feel isolated. Their struggle must find support outside the country, starting with the European Union.”

The toll of the past week in the city of Samara alone is very worrying. Three journalists working for the daily Kommersant and REN-TV were arrested on 10 May while interviewing Mikhail Gagan outside his apartment building. Gagan is one of the organisers of the “Dissenters’ March” which Garry Kasparov’s Other Russia and other anti-Kremlin groups plan to hold in Samara on 18 May as the summit is taking place there.

The Putin goverment must believe the visiting leaders and journalists in Samara are fools. Do they really believe officially permitting the march while jailing and intimidating the marchers will convince them that Russia is a respectful democracy? It’s like trying to paint over a big hole in the wall. The Kremlin wants to be able to say, “Look how few protestors showed up. Everyone here is happy!” But in reality they have already exposed their authoritarian ways. They learned on April 14 and 15 that beating the protestors generated bad publicity, too much of which could lead to a rift with the West and the endangerment of all that looted money they have abroad. So now, with the world watching more closely, they are trying methods that are harder to photograph. It is still nothing more and nothing less than the broad usage of police and other security forces for political repression.

“The fact a man was put in prison simply for being an organizer with the Other Russia is a serious symptom that shows that the authorities are really out to get us, and it is not the first prison term we will see over the next six months,” Other Russia activist Marina Litvinovich said.

The security forces have also been performing house searches and detentions of other activists in Samara. Computers and documents have been searched and seized on the standard pretext of “extremist activities,” which, as we know, are defined as anything the Kremlin likes with no court papers required. Every printer in the city has been searched for “Dissenters’ March” materials and the police were even going through garbage bins. Several journalists have also been questioned or detained, and at least two are whereabouts unknown at this time.