2011–2013 Chilean student protests, August 2011 government proposal and subsequent protest
However, student leaders did not accept the proposal and signalled that the student mobilizations would continue with a national strike and march on August 4 and an official written response on August 5. In interviews, they noted that the proposal did not criminalize profiteering in education, did not seek to provide free or equitable access to higher education, and was not specific. Using the same language that was used to describe the July proposal, the August proposal was called "a backward step" and "a band-aid solution."


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, August 2011 government proposal and subsequent protest
The protests of August 4 were the most confrontational of the movement to date. 874 protestors were detained, and the center of Santiago was called a "state of siege" by University of Chile student federation president Camila Vallejo. Police cordoned off the streets and used tear gas. Protesters destroyed signs and set small fires in the street. Additionally, 90 carabineros (militarized police) were injured and a La Polar department store was burnt down. The evening saw a cacerolazo protest, where protesters bang pots and pans, often from their homes.


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, Third government proposal
On August 18, the government offered a third proposal for ending the conflict; primary among the new means was a reduction of government-backed student loan rates to 2% APR. However, this proposal still has not placated the students, who held a massive march (100,000 marchers) on that date and another massive (estimates of attendance from 100,000 to 1,000,000) concert/protest on August 21.


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, Third government proposal, August 24–25 protests
The Workers' United Center of Chile organized a nationwide two-day strike on August 24 and 25. During the strike, four separate marches took place in Santiago, as well as additional protests across the country. According to union officials, a total of about 600,000 people were involved in protests. On the 24th, upwards of three hundred people were arrested, with six police officers wounded in Santiago, where protesters constructed roadblocks and damaged cars and buildings. On the 25th, another 450 people were arrested with several dozen reported injured.


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, Third government proposal, August 24–25 protests
In Santiago, police forces used tear gas and water cannons on protesters at the end of the demonstrations; earlier, some protesters had thrown stones and started fires. One person, 16-year-old Manuel Gutierrez Reinoso, later died from gunshot wounds to the chest; witnesses claim that he was shot by a police officer.


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, Third government proposal, August 24–25 protests
According to Claudio Urrutia, an official at the Workers' United Center of Chile, said that the Chilean government "is a right-wing government that has demonized social demonstrations [...] This government doesn't seek dialogue. We have to change the tax regime in this country." According to Labor Minister Evelyn Matthei, unions had refused to begin discussions with the government, and she was "working actively trying to resolve problems [...] in education and in labor and many problems that come from the past."


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, Third government proposal, August 24–25 protests
On August 31, the Education Committee of the Chilean Senate approved 4-1 a bill that would prohibit indirect or direct state support of for-profit educational institutions, a fundamental demand of the student movement.


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, Pinochet coup anniversary protests
On the 38th anniversary of Augusto Pinochet's 1973 coup d'état against socialist president Salvador Allende on September 11, 2011, police arrested around 280 people in protests in Santiago. One 15-year-old girl suffered a bullet wound. "There were more than 350 places with barricades and blocked streets, and 130,000 homes suffered power cuts," said Deputy Interior Minister Rodrigo Ubilla.


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, Pinochet coup anniversary protests
A day later on September 12, 2011, 30 people stormed the headquarters of the Communist Party of Chile Central Committee assaulting party workers, and destroying computers and furniture. Carabineros attempted to storm the building on August 4.


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, October breakdown of negotiations
In October the student representatives engaged in negotiations with government representatives headed by education minister Felipe Bulnes. The students withdrew from negotiations October 5 citing that the government had in their words only proposed an improved version of their "GANE" proposal from July, something students considered a "provocation". Camila Vallejo said that it was government that broke the negotiations by lacking "political will" and "capacity to attend the demands of the majority of the country".


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, October breakdown of negotiations
Students reported that minister Felipe Bulnes attacked David Urrea during the negotiations saying to him "you came here to break the negotiations, you are in a hostile position". In a meeting held in the Isla Teja Campus of the Southern University of Chile the Chilean university students union (CONFECH) representative David Urrea made a call to radicalize the movement and to "prepare for harsh times".


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, October breakdown of negotiations
Government spokesman Andrés Chadwick blamed "the ultras" and "the intransigents" in the student movement as responsible for the breakdown of negotiations. Giorgio Jackson said of these comments that the label "ultra" form part of a strategy aimed to divide the student movement, a strategy Jackson said the government have been using since the beginning of the conflict.


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, Second cabinet shuffle
In December 2011 Education Minister Felipe Bulnes was replaced by Harald Beyer, an analyst with the Center for Public Studies.


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, Leadership changes, 2012
In April 2012 Education Minister Harald Beyer proposed a new university funding plan, which would remove private sector banks from the process of granting student loans and reduce interest rates on loans from six to two percent. Gabriel Boric, president of the University of Chile Student Federation, rejected the plan, stating: "We don't want to trade debt for debt, which is what the government is offering us".


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, Leadership changes, 2012
A national student strike was organised for 28 June. The strike was marked with a march in Santiago which was attended by 150,000, according to the demonstration's organisers.


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, Leadership changes, 2012
In August 2012 a number of schools and universities including Instituto Nacional, Liceo José Victorino Lastarria and Universidad de Chile were occupied by students. The UNESCO seat in Santiago was also occupied by secondary students aiming to speak against the Hinzpeter Law at the UN. Government spokesman Andrés Chadwick rejected the demands of the students.


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, Leadership changes, 2013
Michelle Bachelet, member of the Chilean Socialist Party and candidate for a broad center-left coalition, won the presidential elections of 2013 stating that a principal objective of the New Majority coalition will be to achieve and establish a system of universal and free access to higher education within a time frame of six years. Meanwhile, in the elections for the Chilean parliament two ex main leaders of the protests, Camila Vallejo and Gabriel Boric became elected as members of parliament, one for the Chilean Communist Party and the other for the Autonomous Left party respectively. While this happened, the position of president of the University of Chile Student Federation, held previously by Vallejo and Boric, is now held by a member of an anarchist student organization (the Libertarian Students Federation),  Melissa Sepulveda, who is a medical student.


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, Leadership changes, 2015
On October 14, 2015 members of CONFECH gathered at Plaza Italia in downtown Santiago and marched down Bernardo O'Higgins until they reached Echaurren Street. Due to increasing tuition and decreasing salaries, students and educators alike were advocating for structural changes surrounding Chile's for-profit education system that originated during the Pinochet Era. to the Council of Hemispheric Affairs, Chile's current education system is "stratified" by socioeconomic status, making access to affordable education a contentious issue for today's youth. The U.S. Department of State's Overseas Security Advisory Council (OSAC) released an official warning to American companies based in Chile about potential violence between the student protesters and the militarized police force.


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, Leadership changes, 2015
As predicted, clashes between students and the carabineros gradually ensued. Known for retaliating harshly, the metropolitan police responded to paint bombs being thrown at their armored vehicles with water cannons against protesters. As mentioned in "," Chilean law enforcement officers using "less-than lethal" weapons against demonstrators exemplifies the publication's proposal to increase regulation of less-lethal weapons, whether they be water cannons or tear gas.


2011–2013 Chilean student protests, Leadership changes, 2015
In accordance to Brooke Gladstone views on mainstream media bias in "The Influence Machine," Chilean journalists have been criticized for their minimal coverage surrounding the ongoing student protests and cases of police brutality. For example, the 2015 Freedom of the Press Index declared that self-censorship and political bias is common in Chile where the media tends to promote governmental economic interests in addition to what some may call "infotainment."


2011–2013 ICC Intercontinental Cup
The 2011–13 ICC Intercontinental Cup is the sixth edition of the ICC Intercontinental Cup, an international first-class cricket tournament between leading associate members of the International Cricket Council. The tournament will run from June 2011 to October 2013. The format has been changed since the 2009–10 edition. The previous two-division system has been replaced by a single eight-team division, comprising the six teams from 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division One (Afghanistan, Canada, Ireland, Kenya, Netherlands, and Scotland) and the top two teams from 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Two (Namibia and United Arab Emirates).


2011–2013 ICC Intercontinental Cup
For the first time, a one-day tournament, the 2011–13 ICC World Cricket League Championship, will run in parallel with the first-class tournament.


2011–2013 ICC Intercontinental Cup, Fixtures
The breakdown of fixtures for the ICC Intercontinental Cup 2011–13 is as follows:


2011–2013 ICC World Cricket League Championship
The 2011–13 ICC World Cricket League Championship (originally named the Intercontinental Cup One-Day) was the first edition of the ICC World Cricket League Championship, though the competition had been previously run under the name ICC World Cricket League Division One. It ran from June 2011 until October 2013, in parallel with the first-class 2011–13 ICC Intercontinental Cup, and was contested by the same eight associate and affiliate member teams.


2011–2013 ICC World Cricket League Championship, Format
The eight qualifiers were the six teams from 2010 ICC World Cricket League Division One:


2011–2013 ICC World Cricket League Championship, Format
and the top two teams from 2011 ICC World Cricket League Division Two:


2011–2013 ICC World Cricket League Championship, Format
The tournament comprised a round robin format. Matches between teams from Division One had full One-Day International status, while matches featuring one or both of the Division Two teams had List A status.


2011–2013 ICC World Cricket League Championship, Format
The top two teams qualified for the 2015 Cricket World Cup, with the remaining six teams entering a further World Cup qualifying tournament to decide the final two World Cup places.


2011–2013 ICC World Cricket League Championship, Fixtures
The breakdown of fixtures was as follows: During each round, each team played against their opponent twice.


2011–2013 ICC World Cricket League Championship, Statistics, Most runs
The top five highest run scorers (total runs) are included in this table.


2011–2013 ICC World Cricket League Championship, Statistics, Most wickets
The following table contains the five leading wicket-takers in the tournament.


2011–2013 International Challenge Trophy
The 2011–13 International Challenge Trophy is the fourth edition of the International Challenge Trophy.


2011–2013 Liga Indonesia Third Division (BLAI)
2011–13 Liga Indonesia Third Division is the 8th season of Liga Indonesia Third Division. The competition began in November 2011 and completed on 13 March 2013.


2011–2013 Liga Indonesia Third Division (BLAI)
Jember United won the Third Division title after defeating PS Gianyar.


2011–2013 Liga Indonesia Third Division (BLAI), Province stage
The whole match was held at the provincial level involving clubs in the province. Competition held to determine the qualifying event for the provincial representative to the regional level. The competition is divided into 33 provinces and managed by the respective Provincial Football Association. The competition began in November 2011 and completed in September 2012.


2011–2013 Liga Indonesia Third Division (BLAI), Region stage
The whole match was held at the regional level involving top clubs from each province who are in the region. Competition conducted for qualifying event leading to the national level. The competition is divided into seven regions and is managed by the Indonesian Amateur League Board (BLAI). The competition began in January 2013 and completed on 4 March 2013.


2011–2013 Liga Indonesia Third Division (BLAI), Knockout stage
Participate is 7 region winner from region stage. The competition began on 8 March 2013 and completed on 13 March 2013.


2011–2013 Russian protests
The 2011–2013 Russian protests, which some English language media referred to as the Snow Revolution, began in 2011 (as protests against the 2011 Russian legislative election results) and continued into 2012 and 2013. The protests were motivated by claims by Russian and foreign journalists, political activists and members of the public that the election process was flawed. The Central Election Commission of Russia stated that only 11.5% of official reports of fraud could be confirmed as true.


2011–2013 Russian protests
On 10 December 2011, after a week of small-scale demonstrations, Russia saw some of the biggest protests in Moscow since the 1990s. The focus of the protests have been the ruling party, United Russia, and its leader Vladimir Putin, the current president, previous prime minister, and previous two-term president, who announced his intention to run again for President in 2012. Another round of large protests took place on 24 December 2011. These protests were named "For Fair Elections" (Russian: За честные выборы) and their organizers set up the movement of the same name.


2011–2013 Russian protests
By this time, the "For Fair Elections" protesters had coalesced into five main points: freedom for political prisoners; annulment of the election results; the resignation of Vladimir Churov (head of the election commission) and the opening of an official investigation into vote fraud; registration of opposition parties and new democratic legislation on parties and elections, as well as new democratic and open elections.


2011–2013 Russian protests
Initial protest actions, organized by the leaders of the Russian opposition parties and non-systemic opposition sparked fear in some quarters of a colour revolution in Russia, and a number of counter-protests and rallies in support of the government were held. On the first days following the election, Putin and United Russia were supported by rallies of two youth organizations, the government-organized Nashi and United Russia's Young Guard. On 24 December Sergey Kurginyan organised the first protest against what was viewed as "orange" protesters in Moscow, though the protest also went under the same slogan "For Fair Elections".


2011–2013 Russian protests
On 4 February 2012, more protests and pro-government rallies were held throughout the country. The largest two events were in Moscow: the "anti-Orange protest" (alluding to the Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the most widely known color revolution to Russians), aimed against "orangism", "collapse of the country", "perestroika" and "revolution", the largest protest action of all the protests so far according to the police; and another "For Fair Elections" protest, larger than the previous ones according to the police.


2011–2013 Russian protests
On 6 May 2012, protests took place in Moscow the day before Putin's inauguration as President for his third term. Some called for the inauguration to be scrapped. The protests were marred by violence between the protesters and the police. About 400 protesters were arrested, including Alexei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov and Sergei Udaltsov and 80 were injured. On the day of the inauguration, 7 May, at least 120 protesters were arrested in Moscow. In June 2012, laws were enacted which set strict boundaries on protests and imposed heavy penalties for unauthorized actions. As of January 2013, interviews by Ellen Barry of The New York Times of working class elements which had supported the protests revealed an atmosphere of intimidation, discouragement, and alienation.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Background, Previous protest rallies in 2000s
In the 2000s, due to increased restrictions in the election legislation and the takeover of large media under state control, a non-system opposition emerged, which was barred from participation in elections. This time, it included both left and right organisations as well as nationalists.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Background, Previous protest rallies in 2000s
The largest protests and main opposition events include rallies to support the old NTV staff (2001), mass protests against Mikhail Zurabov's reforms (2005), including the 2004-2005 Russian protests, Dissenters' March (2005–2008), Russian Marches, "I am free! I forgot what it means to fear" rallies for freedom of the press (2005–2006 and 2008), Vladivostok mass protests (2008–2010), Kaliningrad mass protests (2009–2010), Day of Wrath (Left Front actions) (2009–2011), Putin. Results and Putin. Corruption campaign, Putin must go campaign, Strategy-31 (for freedom of assembly) (2009–), etc.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Background, Previous protest rallies in 2000s
Committee 2008, wide coalition The Other Russia, Yabloko, Union of Right Forces, Vanguard of Red Youth, Left Front, Russian People's Democratic Union, United Civil Front, movement for Khimki forest, Solidarnost, TIGER, Society of Blue Buckets, Coalition "For Russia without Lawlessness and Corruption", etc. were among the main opposition groups within disorganized 2000s protest movement.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Background, 2011 election
According to RIA Novosti, there were more than 1,100 official reports of election irregularities across the country, including allegations of vote fraud, obstruction of observers and illegal campaigning. Members of the A Just Russia, Yabloko and Communist parties reported that voters were shuttled between multiple polling stations to cast several ballots. The Yabloko and LDPR parties reported that some of their observers had been banned from witnessing the sealing of the ballot boxes and from gathering video footage, and some were groundlessly expelled from polling stations.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Background, 2011 election
The ruling United Russia party alleged that the opposition parties had engaged in illegal campaigning by distributing leaflets and newspapers at polling stations and that at some polling stations the voters had been ordered to vote for the Communist party with threats of violence. There were several reports of almost undetectable vote fraud—swapping of final polling station protocols just before final accounting by station chairmen—that happened late at night when most observers were gone.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Background, 2011 election
The Central Electoral Commission issued a report on 3 February 2012, in which it said that it received the total of 1686 reports on irregularities, of which only 195 (11.5%) were upheld after investigation. A third (584) actually contained questions about the unclear points of electoral law, and only 60 complaints were claiming falsifications of the elections results. On 4 February 2012 the Investigation Committee of the Office of the Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation announced that the majority of videos allegedly showing falsifications at polling stations were in fact falsified and originally distributed from a single server in California, and the investigation on that started.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Background, 2011 election
Despite the official findings, protests carried on up to and beyond 4 March presidential election.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Background, Demographic and economic basis
According to The New York Times, the leading element has consisted of young urban professionals, the well-educated and successful working or middle class people such as workers in social media. These groups had benefited from substantial growth in the Russian economy until the 2008 economic crisis but have been alienated by increasing political corruption as well as recent stagnation in their income. The number of such individuals is large and growing in urban centers and is thought to represent a challenge to continuation of authoritarian rule. According to Putin the legitimate grievances of this young and active element of Russian society are being exploited by opportunistic elements which seek to destabilize Russia. Nationalist elements play a significant role in the coalition which is organizing and participating in the protests.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 4 December 2011
On 4 November 2011, during the annual Russian March event, representatives of "The Russians" movement declared a protest action planned for election day after polling districts closed. As there was no official rally permit, the action by "The Russians" was unapproved and took place on 4 December at 21:00 in Moscow. The statement of non-recognition of electoral results spread widely. Сitizens were called upon to create self-governing institutions reflecting national interests and were told of falsifications and frauds said to have occurred during the elections. Alexander Belov declared the beginning of the "Putin, go away!" campaign.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 4 December 2011
The protest action, in which several hundreds persons participated, led to running battles with riot police. Leaders of "The Russians" Alexander Belov, Dmitry Dyomushkin, George Borovikov were arrested along with dozens of other nationalists. The head of the banned Movement Against Illegal Immigration organization Vladimir Yermolaev was detained at a voting station where he was an observer. Mass detentions of other public organizations occurred in Moscow. According to police some 258 persons have been detained.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 5–7 December 2011
On 5 December, around 5,000 opponents of the government began protesting in Moscow, denouncing Vladimir Putin and his government and what they believed were flawed elections. Campaigners argued that the elections had been a sham and demanded that Putin step down, whilst some demanded revolution. Alexey Navalny, a top blogger and anti-corruption activist who branded Putin's United Russia party as the "party of crooks and thieves", is credited with initial mobilization of mass protests through postings on his LiveJournal blog and Twitter account. Navalny's agitation was denounced by United Russia as "typical dirty self-promotion" and a profane tweet describing Navalny as a sheep engaged in oral sex originated from Medvedev's Twitter account.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 5–7 December 2011
Many pro-government supporters, including the pro-Putin youth group Nashi, were mobilized on 6 December at the site of the planned demonstration where they made noise in support of the government and United Russia. There was a 15,000-strong rally of Nashi on Manezhnaya Square and an 8,000-strong rally of the Young Guard on Revolution Square. About 500 pro-United Russia activists marched near Red Square. Truckloads of soldiers and police, as well as a water cannon, were deployed ahead of expected anti-government protests. It emerged that 300 protesters had been arrested in Moscow the night before, along with 120 in St. Petersburg.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 5–7 December 2011
During the night of 6 December, at least 600 protesters were reported to be in Triumphalnaya square chanting slogans against Putin, whilst anti-government protesters at Revolution Square clashed with riot police and interior ministry troops. The police chased around 100 away, arresting some. Protest numbers later reportedly reached over 1,000 at Triumphalnaya Square and dozens of arrests were reported, including Boris Nemtsov, an opposition leader and former deputy prime minister, and Alexey Navalny. Over 250 arrests were made, with police using buses to transport the suspects to police stations to be charged.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 5–7 December 2011
At least one Russian journalist claimed he was beaten by police officers who stamped on him and hit his legs with batons. Another 200 arrests were reported in St. Petersburg and 25 in Rostov the same night as anti-government demonstrations took place. After three and a half hours, the Moscow protest came to an end.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 5–7 December 2011
Attempts to stage a large protest in Moscow on 7 December fizzled out due to a large police presence in the city.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 10 December 2011
Via a Facebook group "Суббота на Болотной площади" (Saturday at Bolotnaya Square), a call was made for a mass protest against the government on Saturday 10 December. Prior to the demonstration newspapers commented that tens of thousands of Facebook users had positively responded to invitations to demonstrate in Moscow, and, similarly, over 5,000 in St. Petersburg. A permit had originally been issued to the group Solidarnost for a legal demonstration of 300 people in Revolution Square. By 8 December, more than 30,000 had accepted the Facebook invitation to attend.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 10 December 2011
After negotiations with the demonstrators an alternative location for a 30,000-person demonstration was authorized by the Moscow government for the demonstration which took place on 10 December on Bolotnaya Square. Prior to the demonstration, threats were made by Putin that police and security forces would be deployed to deal with anyone participating in illegal protests in Moscow or other cities; however, the event, when it took place, was peaceful and without attempts by the state to prevent or disrupt it. Rapper Noize MC and author Boris Akunin both agreed to address the crowds, the latter flying in specially from Paris for the occasion. Guerrilla theater by FEMEN and the circulation of a photoshopped image of Putin dressed as Muammar Gaddafi accompanied the protests.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 10 December 2011
Attempts to disrupt the protests and the organizations supporting them included repeated prank calls to Yabloko and Novaya Gazeta. Russia's chief public health official, Gennady Onishchenko, warned on Friday that protesters risked respiratory infections such as the flu or SARS. Warnings were issued that the police would be looking for draft dodgers at the protests. Students in Moscow were ordered to report Saturday during the time scheduled for the demonstration to an exam followed by a special class conducted by headmasters regarding "rules of safe behavior in the city." Opposition Twitter posts were spammed by a botnet and a YouTube video, Москва! Болотная площадь! 10 Декабря! (Moscow! Bolotnaya square! 10 December! ), was posted of orcs storming a castle shouting, "Russia without Putin."


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 10 December 2011
The Telegraph reported at 10:40 GMT that "Half an hour into what is likely to be Moscow's biggest demonstration since the fall of the Soviet Union, Russia's biggest state-controlled television station, Channel One, has no mention of the popular unrest on its website." Journalist Andrew Osborn noted a bad 3G telephone signal in Bolotnaya Square, asking "Wonder if they have deliberately shut off in protest area  [sic]". The Guardian also reported that mobile internet had been "cut off" in the square.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 10 December 2011
The Moscow demonstration was generally peaceful ending in the afternoon with the singing of Viktor Tsoi's song "Peremen" meaning "Changes", a perestroika anthem from the 1980s. Reports of the demonstration including its large size and demands for new elections were carried on the evening news in Russia by state controlled media.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 10 December 2011
Police in Moscow estimated the protest numbers to be around 25,000, whilst the opposition claimed over 50,000 people were present during the demonstration. Other activists claimed as many as 60,000 protesters in Bolotnaya Square, Moscow.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 10 December 2011, Demands
While particular demands were not apparent in the first few days of the protests, by 10 December they had coallesced into five main points:


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 10 December 2011, Other cities
Like in Moscow, protests were planned to take place in St. Petersburg, Vladivostok and Kaliningrad, as well as 88 other towns and cities in Russia. Smaller protests were reported in Tomsk, Omsk, Arkhangelsk, Murmansk, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk, Krasnoyarsk, Kurgan, Perm, Karelia, Khabarovsk, Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 10 December 2011, Other cities
At least 10,000 protesters turned out in St. Petersburg, 3,000 in Novosibirsk, whilst 4,000 others rallied in Yekaterinburg. At least 1,000 people rallied in the port city of Vladivostok on Russia's Pacific coast.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 10 December 2011, Other cities
"Sympathy protests" are also being held abroad. In London, the former parliamentary aide accused of being a Russian spy Katia Zatuliveter turned up holding a banner saying: "Russian vote 146 per cent fair".


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 10 December 2011, Other cities
Some sources report only 100 arrests nationwide on 10 December due to the protests, mostly outside Moscow, which is a significantly smaller number than previous protests. In Kazan, however, at least 100 protesters, mainly in their early 20s, were detained for failure to disperse.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 17–18 December 2011
On 17 December another meeting was held at Bolotnaya Square in Moscow against the election fraud. The rally was organized by Yabloko but members of other political parties participated as well. Among the speakers were Grigory Yavlinsky and Sergey Mitrokhin from Yabloko and Vladimir Ryzhkov from the People's Freedom Party. The Moscow Police claimed there were 1500 demonstrators but eyewitnesses claimed there were up to 5000 people at the peak of the demonstration. In any case, the turnout was far below that of the multi-party rally of 10 December.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 17–18 December 2011
A rally was held on 18 December in Moscow, organized by Communist Party of the Russian Federation in Moscow and took place at Manezhnaya Square. Several thousand supporters turned out, but many were elderly.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 17–18 December 2011
Another smaller rally took place in Saint Petersburg at Pionerskaya Square.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 17–18 December 2011
Gennady Zyuganov, head of the party and its candidate for President of Russia, has denounced election regularities but has also expressed his opposition to the organizers of the mass demonstrations who he views as ultra liberals who are exploiting unrest.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 24 December 2011
There were large follow-up demonstrations 24 December including a rally "For Fair Elections" at Academician Sakharov Avenue in Moscow. There were rallies in Vladivostok, Novosibirsk, Orenburg, Chelyabinsk, Saratov, Nizhny Novgorod and two in Saint Petersburg.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 24 December 2011
A podium was built at the end of the 700-metre (0.43-mile) avenue. On the podium were slogans, "Russia will be free" and "This election Is a farce."


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 24 December 2011
The atmosphere was peaceful but at least 40 bus loads of riot police were standing by as thousands of protesters demonstrated, with a total of up to 50,000 expected to arrive during the day. Alexei Kudrin, a former Putin insider, spoke advocating dialogue. He was booed by some, but cheered by others.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 24 December 2011
At least 21,000 protesters were in Moscow by 11:10 am GMT, according to Itar Tass, and there were at least 100 arrests in Vladivostok. According to on scene reporters, the atmosphere was fun, with white ribbons and balloons and condom-themed banners – a mocking reference to Vladimir Putin saying he believed the white ribbons, the protest movements symbol, were to promote safe sex.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 24 December 2011
The Interior Ministry estimated that at least 28,000 people had turned up, whilst some in the opposition claimed 120,000 protesters were in Moscow. Reporters of the Moscow Times said the figure was well above the 30,000 to 60,000 at the previous event and that there were about 80,000 protesters who came to this rally. The infographics from RIA Novosti shows that the Sakharov Avenue can provide room for a maximum of 96,000 people at a density of 35 people per 10 sq m, or for 55,000 people at a smaller and more realistic density distribution.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 24 December 2011
Alexei Navalny, greeted with a ovation when he finally spoke, said there were enough people present at the protest to march to and overrun the Kremlin, but that they were committed to remaining peaceful, at least for the moment.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 24 December 2011
I can see that there are enough people here to seize the Kremlin and the White House right now. We are a peaceful force and will not do it now. But if these crooks and thieves try to go on cheating us, if they continue telling lies and stealing from us, we will take what belongs to us with our own hands. ... These days, with the help of the zombie-box, they are trying to prove to us that they are big and scary beasts. But we know who they are. Little sneaky jackals! Is that right? Is that true or not?


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 24 December 2011
The crowd reportedly included liberals, anarchists, communists, nationalists and monarchists.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 24 December 2011
Mikhail Gorbachev did not attend or speak but sent a message of support. On the day of the rally, the former Soviet President called on Putin to resign.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 24 December 2011
Mikhail Prokhorov, the billionaire independent presidential candidate, was in the crowd but did not speak.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 24 December 2011, Speakers on Sakharov Avenue
Speakers have been arranged by Alexey Navalny, Garry Kasparov, Boris Nemtsov, and Vladimir Tor, based on the principle of representation of different political forces. The last speaker was Grandfather Frost who wished everyone a "Happy New Year.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, Nemtsov phone conversations controversy
On 19 December, Lifenews.ru news portal published a recording of phone conversations ascribed to Boris Nemtsov, the leader of PARNAS People's Freedom Party, and one of the main organizers of the demonstration on Bolotnaya square on 10 December. According to one of the recordings, which were called by Nemtsov himself "partially authentic, partially montaged and partially fake", he considers protesters "lemmings" (Russian: "хомячки"), "timid penguins" from Facebook and Vkontakte social networks, and claims he is "forced to represent" these people. In other recordings, he used profanities and referenced to the sexual life of some other leaders of the demonstration.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, Nemtsov phone conversations controversy
He also called another prominent leader of protests, Alexey Navalny "a specialist of manipulating the internet mob". Nemtsov later apologized to several leaders he characterized in these conversations, but not to protesters, and claimed that people that made recordings available to the public committed a crime. Lifenews.ru claimed at least 3 million visitors coming to the site during the day, and the site was not accessible for some time.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 4 February 2012
Despite temperatures of −20 degrees Celsius a third demonstration was carried out in Moscow by the For Fair Elections movement on 4 February, with 160,000 participants according to organizers or 38,000 participants according to the police. According to the state-run Ria Novosti's calculations, the Bolotnaya Square site provides room for a maximum of 101,000 people at a maximum density of 35 people per 10 sq m on the quay and 15 people per 10 sq m in the park, or for 53,000 people at a smaller and less compact density distribution.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 4 February 2012
This time the demonstration started with a march from Kaluzhskaya Square to Bolotnaya Square where a meeting was held. The anti-Putin protesters carried white balloons and were wearing white ribbons. They chanted "Putin, Go Away!" and "Russia without Putin!". One of the banners read "Putin is a person without shame or conscience".


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 4 February 2012
Among the speakers were Yevgeniya Chirikova, Gennady Gudkov, Leonid Parfyonov, Olga Romanova, Vladimir Ryzhkov, Sergei Udaltsov, Ilya Yashin and Grigory Yavlinsky. The meeting was ended by Yuri Shevchuk who sang his famous song "Rodina" (Motherland). The same day demonstrations were being held in other cities throughout Russia such as St Petersburg, Kazan, Kaliningrad, Nizhni Novgorod, Penza and Yaroslavl. Also the Russian-speaking population of other countries organized rallies worldwide with similar demands: Germany, Israel, USA.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 4 February 2012
The organisers of the third Moscow "For Fair Elections" protest had difficulties originally financing the protest because contributions from the public had waned by January 2012, so they financed the organisation of the protest with money collected earlier for other events.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 26 February 2012
At least 3,500 people demonstrated against Vladimir Putin in St Petersburg, under heavy police presence, but no arrests were made. In Moscow on Sunday 26 February up to 30,000 people lined the Garden Ring in a protest called the Big White Circle. White clothes and white ribbons were worn as protestors formed a nine-mile human chain holding a white banner. The event was described as an apolitical "act of unity" to avoid the official permission which protests require.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 5 March 2012
In response to Vladimir Putin's reelection during the Presidential Elections, protesters took to the streets of Moscow. After being denied to demonstrate on Lubyanka Square up to 25,000 people protested in Pushkin Square. A couple of thousand protestors stayed behind and clashed with riot police who moved in to disperse them, leading to several hundred arrests, including Alexey Navalny, Sergey Udaltsov and Ilya Yashin. Anti -government protests also took place in St Petersburg too, albeit smaller, at 3,000 people where 300 were arrested.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 10 March 2012
Another "For Fair Elections" protest was staged on the Novy Arbat street in Moscow. A permit was issued for 50,000, but just 25,000 came according to the organisers and 10,000 according to the police. The mood was downbeat after Putin won an absolute majority everywhere but Moscow where he garnered 46.95% of the vote. Sergei Udaltsov of Left Front, called for a massive demonstration 1 May, but no further protests are scheduled.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 18 March 2012
Up to 1000 protesters gathered at an unsactioned demonstration at the Ostankino television tower and 94 were arrested. They were protesting against a documentary called The Anatomy of Protest, which had been shown on 15 March on NTV, a channel owned by Gazprom, a state-run firm. The documentary claimed that protesters against the election of Putin as president had been given "money and cookies" as payment. It also claimed that Alexei Navalny, a well-known opposition blogger, had been "spreading misinformation" and had "too many bodyguards" who were "beating up journalists". Protesters wore white ribbons and chanted "Shame on NTV!"


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 8 April 2012
For the first time since the beginning of the protests, opposition activists were allowed onto Red Square to demonstrate, though they were not allowed to pitch a tent. Just the previous weekend protesters were barred from the square and arrests made. This time, "hundreds" gathered, including Yevgenia Chirikova and Sergei Udaltsov.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, Astrakhan mayoral election of 2012
After fraud was alleged in the mayoral election of 2012 in Astrakhan and the United Russia candidate was declared the winner, organizers of the 2011–2012 Russian protests supported the defeated candidate, Oleg V. Shein of Just Russia, in a hunger strike. Substantial evidence of fraud was cited by the protesters but an official investigation failed to find significant violations. The activists from Moscow found it difficult to gain traction over the issue with local residents who, like most Russians, accept political corruption as a given that is useless to protest. The emissaries from Moscow persisted, buoyed by celebrities who support the reform movement, drawing 1,500 to a rally on 14 April.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 6 and 7 May 2012
Protests involving about 20,000 people took place in Moscow the day before Putin's inauguration as President for his third term. Some called for the inauguration to be scrapped. The protests were marred by violence between the protesters and the police. About 400 protesters were arrested, including Alexei Navalny, Boris Nemtsov and Sergei Udaltsov and 80 were injured. On the day of the inauguration, at least 120 protesters were arrested in Moscow. Police also detained over 100 young men of conscription age (18–27), including 70 who had avoided the military draft.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 6 and 7 May 2012
From the very beginning, the so-called "March of Millions" was a nervous event. Even before the march, many large liberal media sites: Echo Moscow radio station, Kommersant daily, and Dozhd TV channel, were subjected to DDoS-attacks. Ilya Ponomarev, an opposition leader and member of parliament, said the police had started the clashes. "The police started it. Bolotnaya square filled up and the police sealed it off. when they started to push demonstrators, and people reacted," he said. Analytical article of Lenta.ru reported, that "Moscow had not seen such large-scale street battles for twenty years". Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's press secretary, Dmitry Peskov said he believed the police were being too soft on the protesters.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 6 and 7 May 2012
Gazeta.ru reported "The efforts that the law enforcement are going to in order to provoke the protesters are so evident, it's impossible to remain blind to the plan of radicalization of peaceful protests behind their actions. This mutual willingness for violence has allowed both sides, with help of several provocations, to turn a peaceful march into a massive clash, the scale of which Moscow hasn't seen since the '90s. That was the mobilization. War follows. Both sides expect only victory, of course."


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 6 and 7 May 2012
Several hundreds meetings continued on 6/7 night, 7, 7/8 night and 8 May in different places in Moscow. Opposition leaders were arrested again. The arrests continued in the following months. Among the arrested was a prominent human rights activist Nikolay Kavkazsky who was arrested on 25 July and who has been held in custody ever since.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 6 and 7 May 2012
The authorities' crackdown on the pro-democratic movement resulted in what has come to be known as the "Bolotnaya square case".


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 12 June 2012
A peaceful protest rally by tens of thousands, protest organizers estimated their numbers at 50,000, while police put it at 15,000, originating at Pushkin Square was held in Moscow on 12 June 2012, Russia Day. The rally was preceded by soaking rain; there was a thunderstorm after a few hours. Protest activities fell within the conditions of the permit which had been issued by the authorities. A call by Sergei Udaltsov to march on the Investigative Committee of Russia which had raided organizers' homes on 11 June was rejected by other protest organizers.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 12 June 2012
The protest rally defied an atmosphere of intimidation and repression fostered by the Putin administration: The previous day, police had raided the homes of various opposition leaders and called them in for interrogation an hour before the protest was due to start on 12 June: Alexei Navalny, Ilya Yashin and Ksenia Sobchak all attended the interrogations. The rally was also the first to follow a new law passed in June 2012 to punish protesters with larger fines. Participation in the protest was diverse, united only by opposition to Putin; in addition to the revolutionary anti-capitalist Left Front led by Sergei Udaltsov, black-clad Russian nationalists and liberals sporting white ribbons participated despite expressing mutual disdain.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 15 December 2012
On Saturday afternoon about 2,000 protestors gathered in Lubyanka Square in Moscow, the location of the headquarters of the Federal Security Services, a successor to the KGB. A requested permit to lay flowers at the memorial stone in the square was denied. There were mass arrests including Aleksei Navalny, Sergei Udaltsov of the Left Front, Kseniya Sobchak, and Ilya Yashin. Those arrested, if prosecuted and convicted, face heavy fines under recently enacted legislation which outlaws organizing or participating in unauthorized demonstrations.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 13 January 2013: March Against Scoundrels
On 13 January 2013 a protest called the "March Against Scoundrels" was held in Moscow protesting passage of the Anti- Magnitsky law, a bill banning adoption of Russian children by people in the United States. A permit was sought and issued. According to the police there were about 10,000 participants.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 13 January 2013: March Against Scoundrels
According to oppositioners counting there were from 30 to 50 thousand people. According to bloggers' counting – 24,474 participants.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 6 May 2013
On 6 May 2013 a mass rally took place in Moscow. Among featured speakers were Boris Nemtsov and Aleksei Navalny. Opposition leaders put the number of attendants at up to 50,000, though police stated 7,000 took part.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Protests against government, 18 July 2013
On 18 July 2013 Aleksei Navalny was sentenced to five years in prison for alleged embezzlement. After the verdict was read, thousands gathered in Moscow's Manezhnaya Square to protest it.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Rallies in support of the government
Simultaneously with the anti-government protests, the government and United Russia were supported by rallies of the government funded youth organizations.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Rallies in support of the government, 4 December 2011
On 4 December, Nashi took to the Moscow streets with 15,000 young people that had been brought to Moscow from more than 20 regions and held meetings and concerts on the Revolution Square and Manezhnaya Square to express their support of president Medvedev and prime minister Putin.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Rallies in support of the government, 6 December 2011
On 6 December, about 5,000 activists from Nashi and other pro-Kremlin youth groups held pro-government rallies on Manezhnaya Square and Triumfalnaya Square. To a New York Times reporter, it seemed that many of the participants in the rally were forced to attend.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Rallies in support of the government, 12 December 2011
On 12 December, the 18th anniversary of the Constitution of Russia, thousands of United Russia sympathizers demonstrated in Moscow in support of Putin.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Rallies in support of the government, 23 February 2012
On 23 February, Russia's Defender of the Fatherland Day, a massive pro-Putin march took place in Moscow. The march ended in Luzhniki Stadium, where a crowd of 130,000 (according to police estimates) was addressed by Vladimir Putin. The BBC reported, however, that some attendees claimed they had been made to take part or paid. Some said they had been told they were attending a "folk festival". After Putin spoke, popular folk band Lubeh took to the stage.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Rallies in support of the government, 23 February 2012
Putin's speech in Luzhniki was his single speech before such a large audience during 2012 presidential campaign. In the speech he called not to betray the Motherland, but to love her, to unite around Russia and to work together for the good, to overcome the existing problems. He said that the foreign interference into Russian affairs should not be allowed, that Russia has its own free will.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Rallies in support of the government, 23 February 2012
He compared the political situation at the moment with the First Fatherland War of 1812, reminding that its 200th anniversary and the anniversary of the Battle of Borodino would be celebrated in 2012.Putin cited Lermontov's poem Borodino and ended the speech with Vyacheslav Molotov's famous Great Patriotic War slogan "The Victory Shall Be Ours!" ("Победа будет за нами! ").


2011–2013 Russian protests, Rallies in support of the government, 4 March 2012
On the post-election rally of his supporters at Manezhnaya Square, while making an acceptance speech, Putin was for the first time ever seen with tears in his eyes (later he explained that "it was windy"). He said to a 110,000-strong audience: "I told you we would win and we won!"


2011–2013 Russian protests, "Anti-Orange" protests, 24 December 2011
On 2 December on Sparrow Hills, Sergey Kurginyan and his movement "Sut' Vremeni" (Essence of Time) organized the first protest against what was viewed as "orange" protesters in Moscow. The protest also supported the slogan "For Fair Elections".


2011–2013 Russian protests, "Anti-Orange" protests, 4 February 2012
Alongside smaller rallies that gathered 50,000 people throughout the rest of the country, the large "Антиоранжевый митинг" ("Anti- Orange protest") was held on Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow, near the World War II memorial complex, the largest protest action of all the protests so far according to the police.


2011–2013 Russian protests, "Anti-Orange" protests, 4 February 2012
It was organized by a number of public organisations: Patriots of Russia party, Kurginyan's "Sut' Vremeni", "Congress of Russian communities", "Regional public fund in support of the Heroes of the Soviet Union and Heroes of Russia" "Trade Union of Russian citizens", "Pensioner Union of Russia", "Russian Union of Afghanistan veterans", "Assistance to realisation of constitutional rights of citizens 'Human rights'" group and others.


2011–2013 Russian protests, "Anti-Orange" protests, 4 February 2012
According to the Moscow police, 138,000–150,000 people participated at the protest at the peak of attendance, while more people could have passed through the site. Opposition groups, however, disputed these figures "as grossly inflated", and some journalists, including one of the state-owned news agency RIA Novosti, said the real number was "much lower". The infographics from Ria Novosti shows that the Poklonnaya Hill site can provide room for a maximum of 193,000 people at a density of 35 people per 10 sq m, or for 117,000 people at a smaller and more realistic density distribution.


2011–2013 Russian protests, "Anti-Orange" protests, 4 February 2012
Some demonstrators, many of whom were state employees, said they attended under threat of dismissal. Some such claims made in the course of the protest organization were later refuted as falsifications by the opposition activists and many other demonstrators said they came on their own free will according to a pro-government news site politonline.ru. Vladimir Putin acknowledged that some attendees could have been coerced, but said that it was impossible to gather so many people by administrative pressure alone.


2011–2013 Russian protests, "Anti-Orange" protests, 4 February 2012
The participants were mostly middle age, but there were many young and old persons. Some of the participants were bused from other regions and cities with the transport provided by organizations participating in the action. At a temperature of −21 °C, a number of heat guns were set up, as well as tents with free hot tea and confectionery.


2011–2013 Russian protests, "Anti-Orange" protests, 4 February 2012
The resulting large attendance at the protest was not expected, and resulted in a traffic jam in a nearby Kutozovsky Avenue. The organizers of the protests applied to the Moscow authorities to gather 15,000 people, but since the number was exceeded, they were faced with paying a fine. Vladimir Putin, who earlier in the evening claimed to share the ideals of those who would go to Poklonnaya Hill, offered to pay part of the fine with his own money.


2011–2013 Russian protests, "Anti-Orange" protests, 4 February 2012
The "anti-Orange protest" name alludes to the (November 2004 – January 2005) Orange Revolution in Ukraine, the most ill-known to Russians color revolution. The term "orange" in Russian political discourse has highly negative connotations. The speakers declared to be against "orangeism", "collapse of the country", "perestroika" and "revolution", reminding the public of such historical events as Gorbachev's Perestroika and the 1917 Russian Revolution and urging never to repeat them.


2011–2013 Russian protests, "Anti-Orange" protests, 4 February 2012
The call for fair elections was supported, but the leaders of protesters on Bolotnaya Square and Sakharov Avenue were condemned as "successors to those who destroyed the country in 1991 and 1917" and who allegedly want "to remove not Putin, but the Russian state". The visit of anti-government protest leaders to the U.S. embassy was condemned, as well as the alleged American interference.


2011–2013 Russian protests, "Anti-Orange" protests, 4 February 2012
Pop-rock singer and composer Denis Maydanov performed on the scene, and pop-rock group Diskoteka Avariya sang their popular song "The Evil Approaches".


2011–2013 Russian protests, "Anti-Orange" protests, 4 February 2012
The symbol of the "anti-Orange protest" was an orange snake strangled in a fist. The motto of the protest was "Нам есть, что терять!" (We have things to lose). The top slogan chosen by online vote was "Не дадим развалить страну!" (Won't allow collapse of the country!) and among those frequently used were "Мы за стабильность" (We are for stability) and "Когда мы едины и мы непобедимы!" (When we are united we are invincible! ).


2011–2013 Russian protests, Media coverage
According to the BBC on 7 December, "State TV channels have generally ignored the protests, covering only pro-government rallies" In contrast, newspapers have mentioned the protests in more depth. The only federal TV station to mention the protests at length before 10's December was the independent, but not broadcast widely, Ren TV.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Media coverage
By 10 December, however, breaking with practice in recent years, all the main state-controlled channels were covering the protests, and in a professional and objective manner. According to one Russian media Aexey Pivovarov, NTV-channel host (now tightly run state media), refused to broadcast if the protests are not covered. Later, in 2013 Pivovarov have left the NTV. Western media covered the protests extensively starting on 5 December. Initial coverage by Fox News used footage of the 2011 Athens riots, showing palm trees, people throwing Molotov cocktails at police, and signs in Greek which Fox later claimed was an error and subsequently removed the report from its site.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Media coverage, Internet
Twitter users in Russia have reported being overwhelmed by pro-government tweets timed to Bolotnaya Square protest-related tweets. Many tweets seem to have been sent by hijacked computers, though the perpetrator(s) are not yet known.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Media coverage, Internet
According to a report made by The Wall Street Journal the Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) have made a formal request to the social media site VKontakte to block opposition groups who 'encourage people to "trash the streets, to organize a revolution". The request was declined as only a few users behaved violently and it was unjust to ban a whole generally peaceful group.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Sites and naming of protests
The two largest protest actions in December 2011 took place on Bolotnaya Square (10 December) and Academician Sakharov Avenue (24 December), and another major protest action is planned on Bolotnaya on 4 February 2012. This resulted in the campaigners being dubbed the "Bolotnaya-Sakharov opposition", or taking into account the root meanings, the "swampy-sugar opposition."


2011–2013 Russian protests, Sites and naming of protests
Former Speaker of Russia's State Duma and a leader of the United Russia party Boris Gryzlov advised Russians to "keep away of all those swamps", alluding to the phrase from the Russian film adaptation of Conan Doyle's The Hound of the Baskervilles ("As you value your life or your reason keep away from the moor" in the original book).


2011–2013 Russian protests, Symbols
The white ribbon emerged in October 2011 as a symbol of opposition and since the elections has picked up momentum. Some Russians have been tying it to their clothing, cars, and other objects, and the motif has appeared on runet and on Twitter. By 10 December, the Dozhd television channel was showing a white ribbon by its on-screen logo. The station's owner, Natalya Sindeyeva, explained this as being a sign of "sincerity", rather than "propaganda", and an attempt to be "mediators" instead of simply journalists. NTV described 10 December as the day of "white ribbons".


2011–2013 Russian protests, Symbols
Vladimir Putin contemptuously referred to the white ribbons used by Russian protesters, comparing them to condoms being used as a symbol of the fight against AIDS.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Reactions, Response from Russian officials
President Dmitry Medvedev ordered an investigation into allegations of vote-rigging, though this received a cynical response from many opponents on his Facebook page. He also defended the right of people to express their views, while denouncing the street protests. On 22 December 2011, he called for a number of reform steps, including reintroducing the direct election of governors and reducing the required signatures for registering a political party or running in the presidential election. A bill reintroducing direct election of governors was introduced in the Duma on 16 January 2012.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Reactions, Response from Russian officials
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin said that Hillary Clinton "set the tone for some opposition activists" to act "in accordance with a well-known scenario and in their own mercenary political interests <...> our people do not want the situation in Russia to develop like it was in Kyrgyzstan or not so long ago in Ukraine." Putin's spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said on 12 December that, "Even if you add up all this so-called evidence, it accounts for just over 0.5 percent of the total number of votes.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Reactions, Response from Russian officials
So even if hypothetically you recognise that they are being contested in court, then in any case, this can in no way affect the question of the vote's legitimacy or the overall results." On 15 December 2011, Putin claimed that the organizers of the protests were former (Russian) advisors to former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko during his presidency who were transferring the Orange Revolution to Russia; he also claimed some organizers were paid by "foreign powers".


2011–2013 Russian protests, Reactions, Response from Russian officials
On 27 December 2011, Putin reassigned Vladislav Surkov to the task of advancing Russia's modernization and development efforts; he remains a deputy prime minister but will no longer oversee Russia's political processes. Putin suggested that a dialogue with the protestors on the internet might be productive, but while upholding the right of the protestors to protest, criticized them for lack of direction and lack of a program relevant to Russia's development, comparing them to "Brownian motion, going every which way.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Reactions, Response from Russian officials
Vladislav Surkov, political adviser to the Kremlin and Chief of Russian Presidential Administration, who had been developing strategies for Russia to cope with an uprising such as the Orange Revolution in Ukraine has recognized the vital nature of the demonstrators but hopes to head off development of a potentially revolutionary movement by instituting reforms such as those announced by Russian President Dmitri A. Medvedev in his state of the nation address made 21 December 2011. According to Surkov, "The system has already changed".


2011–2013 Russian protests, Reactions, Response from Russian officials
The rights of at least three Western television news channels (the BBC, CNN and Bloomberg) were suspended in Moscow by major provider Akado Telecom on 12 July 2012. While the move was not officially linked to the protests, but rather to outdated licences, Alexei Navalny noted that it came just three days after comments by President Putin that "Russia's policies often suffer from a one-sided portrayal these days".


2011–2013 Russian protests, Reactions, Response from the Obama Administration
Jay Carney, President Barack Obama's second White House Press Secretary, said that anti-government protests in Russia are a "positive sign" for democracy in the country.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Reactions, Other reactions
Mikhail Gorbachev, former President of the Soviet Union and General Secretary of the Soviet Communist Party, has called on the authorities to hold a new election, citing electoral irregularities and ballot box stuffing. He criticized Vladimir Putin and the United Russia political party for violating peoples human rights and for not ruling the country in a proper Democratic fashion. During the next major round of demonstrations that occurred on 24 December, he called on Putin to resign.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Interpretation of protests
The 2011 protests were the biggest in Russia since the 1990s, and surprised many with their scale. According to Victor Shenderovich, an opposition political commentator for radio station Ekho Moskvy, "This is political, not economic. The coal miners came out because they were not paid. The people coming onto the streets of Moscow are very well off. These are people protesting because they were humiliated. They were not asked.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Interpretation of protests
They were just told, 'Putin is coming back.'" According to Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times columnist this humiliation of the rising middle class is the common ground the Russian movement shares with the Arab Spring. According to The New York Times, another "explanation is the high level of public corruption [in Russia], which threatens new personal wealth. A second is a phenomenon seen in Gen. Augusto Pinochet's Chile, that economic growth can inadvertently undermine autocratic rule by creating an urban professional class that clamors for new political rights." An additional explanation is that "Putin's unilateral announcement in September that he would run again for the presidency, in effect swapping places with Mr. Medvedev" contributed greatly, something some "Russians now snidely refer to [...] as "rokirovka" – the Russian word for castling in chess".


2011–2013 Russian protests, Interpretation of protests
Imprisoned oligarch Mikhail Khodorkovsky has claimed that the protests were inspired, at least in part, by the example of the Arab Spring. He told The Guardian, "We have only to reflect on the events in countries swept up in the Arab Spring to recognise the transformation taking place in the compact between the rulers and the ruled. While there are certainly many differences between those countries and Russia, there are some fundamental similarities."


2011–2013 Russian protests, Interpretation of protests
In March 2012 Sergei Mironov, running for the presidency of Russia, also compared the situation to the Arab Spring, saying that: "Whoever wins the presidency, if he does not immediately begin deep political and social reforms [...] Russia will be shaken by a kind of Arab Spring within two years." The Telegraph pointed out that since Mironov is a former ally of Vladimir Putin, he could have been trying to scaremonger "as a subtle way of endorsing a crackdown on street demonstrations that are expected in the days after the vote".


2011–2013 Russian protests, Repression
8 June 2012 in response to increased militancy by a segment of the protest movement a law was enacted imposing severe penalties on protesters who engage in unauthorized demonstrations or who exceed the boundaries of authorized ones. Maximum penalties were fines of several thousand rubles or imposed labor of up to 200 hours.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Repression
On 11 June 2012, the day before a scheduled protest in Moscow the homes of the prominent activists, Kseniya Sobchak, Aleksei Navalny, Sergei Udaltsov and others were raided and extensively searched. Literature, electronic data, lists of supporters, and funds were seized. The activists were ordered to report to the Investigative Committee of Russia for questioning during the scheduled protest.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Opposition Coordination Council
Due to the fractured nature of the opposition, in June 2012 activists decided to create a 45-member Opposition Coordination Council (OCC), which would try to coordinate and direct dissent in Russia.


2011–2013 Russian protests, Opposition Coordination Council
Elections for the council were held on 20–22 October 2012. 170,000 people had registered on the site , of whom nearly 98,000 were classed as "verified" and nearly 82,000 had cast their votes.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests
The 2011–2013 protests in Sudan began in January 2011 as part of the Arab Spring regional protest movement. Unlike in other Arab countries, popular uprisings in Sudan had succeeded in toppling the government prior to the Arab Spring in 1964 and 1985. Demonstrations in Sudan however were less common throughout the summer of 2011, during which South Sudan seceded from Sudan, but resumed in force later that year and again in June 2012, shortly after the government passed its much criticized austerity plan.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Background
President Omar al-Bashir had been the Sudanese president since he led a bloodless coup in 1989. Bashir began instituting Sharia and abolished political parties in 1990. He appointed himself president in 1993 and won a presidential election in 1996 as the only candidate. In 2008, the International Criminal Court called for his arrest for alleged genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. Sudan rejected the indictment, saying the decision was an affront to Sudan's sovereignty.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Background
The political system of Sudan under his rule was widely regarded by both the domestic and the international community as a totalitarian system, due to the National Congress Party's control of all three branches of government and use of the National Intelligence and Security Service as a secret police force responsible for the repression of political opponents.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Background
Sudan has lost billions of dollars in oil revenues since South Sudan gained independence in July 2011, about three-quarters of Sudan's oil fields falling within the territory of the new country. The north has been left struggling for revenue, plagued by inflation, and with a severe shortage of dollars to pay for imports. The landlocked South depended on the north's pipeline and port to export its crude, but Khartoum and Juba could not agree on how much South Sudan should pay to use the infrastructure. Sudan's already depleted oil revenues shrank by a further 20 per cent after its main Heglig oil field was damaged and shut down in fighting with invading South Sudanese troops in April 2012.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Background
In an attempt to address the economic meltdown, the Sudanese government has announced a new austerity plan on 18 June 2012, which includes raising taxes on consumer goods, cutting the number of civil servants on its payroll, raising the price of a gallon of petrol by 5 Sudanese pounds, pushing it up to 13.5 pounds from 8.5 pounds, and lifting the fuel subsidies. The plan did not gain much acceptance among common Sudanese as it is believed that the prices of every commodity will get hikes in effect from transport to domestically produced food and other goods.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Background
The protests in Sudan were influenced by the revolutionary wave that started in Tunisia and later spread to other Middle Eastern and North African nations. The protests followed shortly after a successful independence referendum in January 2011, on whether South Sudan should secede from Sudan and become an independent nation.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Background
Following the self-immolation of Mohamed Bouazizi in Tunisia on 17 December 2010, Al-Amin Moussa Al-Amin set himself ablaze on 23 January 2011 in Omdurman.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Start of protests
On 30 January 2011, protests took place in Khartoum and Al-Ubayyid (el-Obeid). In Khartoum, police clashed with demonstrators in the town centre and at least two universities. Demonstrators had organized on online social networking sites since the Tunisian protests the month before. Hussein Khogali, editor in chief of the Al-Watan newspaper stated that his daughter had been arrested for organizing the protest via Facebook and opposition leader Mubarak al-Fadil's two sons were arrested while on their way to the main protest. Pro -government newspapers had warned that protests would cause chaos.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Start of protests
Some protesters called for President Omar al-Bashir to step down. Activists said that dozens of people had been arrested. The protests came on the same day the preliminary results for the referendum indicated some 99% of South Sudanese voted to secede. One student died in hospital the same night from injuries received in the clashes. Students threw rocks at police officers while chanting "No to high prices, no to corruption" and "Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan together as one." Police officers arrested five and put down the protest.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Start of protests
In the Al-Ubayyid 30 January demonstration, about 500 people protested "against the government and demanding change" in the market. Police broke up the demonstration using tear gas.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Start of protests
On 1 February 2011, about 200 students demonstrated in front of Al-Neelain University in Khartoum. Police stopped the demonstration.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Start of protests
Further protests, scheduled for 21 March were violently suppressed as they were beginning.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Start of protests
On 1 November, hundreds of protesters took to the streets in the eastern town of Kassala.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Student protests in December 2011
Students protested at the Red Sea University in Port Sudan after the arrest of several Darfuri student leaders on the night of 21 December, with many Darfuri student activists calling for a revolution and declaring their open support for the Sudan Revolutionary Front fighting the government in the south. On 26 December 42 Darfuri students left the Red Sea University in protest over their treatment, Radio Dabanga reported.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Student protests in December 2011
Students also clashed with riot police wielding batons after security forces stormed the University of Khartoum on 22 December to break up a rally by about 700 student demonstrators protesting the displacement of the Manasir community caused by the construction of the Merowe Dam. Twenty were injured and at least four were arrested, activists told media. On 24 December, approximately 16,000 students attempted to launch a sit-in at the university to protest the police, the university administration, and the federal government, but they were dispersed by riot police who deployed tear gas, dealt out beatings, and arrested at least 73. Leaders of the student movement warned that they would continue to organize and demand the overthrow of the government despite security officers' violent tactics. On 30 December, thousands of students successfully launched a sit-in protest, the Associated Press reported.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Student protests in December 2011
At Sudan University of Science and Technology in Khartoum, fighting between student supporters of Khalil Ibrahim and the ruling National Congress Party broke out on 28 December, days after the Sudanese government announced Ibrahim's death in a battle between his Darfuri rebel group JEM and the Sudan People's Armed Forces. Twelve were injured in the brawl, which police used tear gas to disperse.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Student protests in December 2011
The student protests, in particular those at the University of Khartoum, have been blamed by police on the influence of unnamed Sudanese opposition parties.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Anti-austerity protests in June–July 2012
Hundreds of female students in the University of Khartoum protested peacefully in the surroundings of their hostels at the central campus on the evening of 16 June. The protesters voice opposition against the escalation of prices and economic hardship in Sudan. The next day, students took to the streets, denouncing the austerity measures one day ahead of plans announced by the Sudanese government.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Anti-austerity protests in June–July 2012
As Omar Al-Bashir has formally announced a series of deep budget cuts while addressing the National Assembly in Khartoum, about 250 students held anti-austerity protest in the Khartoum University. Riot police used tear gas and batons against the protesters who in turn threw stones at police. The clashes took place in front of the main campus of the University of Khartoum and in the suburb Omdurman against more than 300 student protesters. On 20 June, hundreds of students held anti-austerity protest for another day, escalating their demands and started to chant slogans like "No, no to high prices" and "The people want to overthrow the regime".


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Anti-austerity protests in June–July 2012
Shortly after the Friday prayers on 22 June, hundreds of Sudanese assembled to protest. Unlike the previous protest held during the past few days, this protest was not mainly a student-led one due to the protest spreading into many neighborhoods that had been quiet. Protests took place in Omdurman, Khartoum, Burri, Al-Daim, El Obeid, Sennar, and Bahri saw demonstrations after noon prayers. The police escalated the use of force during their clashes with the protesters and the smell of tear gas and broken rocks covered streets. Men in civilian clothes also attacked the demonstrators. Students in Kassala protested on 27 June outside the local university against the austerity measures and called for regime change.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Anti-austerity protests in June–July 2012
On 29 June, around 2,000 protesters gathered in the capital and chanted anti-government slogans. Hundreds of police and security forces attacked the demonstration with tear gas. Other protests in the area of north Kordofan were reported. Activists said that a man named Amir Bayoumi, from Omdurman, has reportedly died from the effects of inhaling tear gas. The largest protest so far erupted in Sudan on 6 July in which between 3,000 and 4,000 people protested at Al Ansar mosque in Wad Nubawi, Omdurman. Security forces and police blocked the roads leading to the Al Ansar mosque and surrounded the courtyard before the end of Friday prayers.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Anti-austerity protests in June–July 2012
Sudanese university students armed with sticks and stones on Wednesday staged one of their largest protest on 11 July since unrest sparked by inflation began nearly a month ago. Security forces fired tear gas while students at the University of Khartoum were shouting and throwing stones after the protest began mid-afternoon. Two days later, Sudanese police surrounded the Imam Abdel Rahman Mosque in Omdurman and fired teargas when some 300 worshippers started a protest after noon prayers. Officers used batons to drive worshippers back inside the mosque where they continued their protest for more than an hour. On 16 July, a group of over 300 Sudanese lawyers protested outside Khartoum's main courtroom on Monday against the government's use of violence and arbitrary detention during last Friday's peaceful demonstrations.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Anti-austerity protests in June–July 2012
On 31 July, more than 1,000 protesters, mostly students, threw rocks at police, burned tires and blocked roads in the market area of Nyala, on Tuesday. Activists said police forces fired heavy teargas and live bullets, leading to the death of 12 protesters and injury of more than 50 and added that 9 of the victims' bodies have been received at Nyala Hospital. However, the authorities issued conflicting statements with the police, saying eight were killed and South Darfur governor saying only six protesters were killed. The weeks of protests later ended with a huge security crackdown, with almost more than 2,000 people were arrested.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Sporadic protests
On 5 December 2012, four students at Gezira University, Darfur, were killed during a crackdown on anti-tuition fee protests. Demanding an investigation into the deaths, protests flared up once again, with students from Khartoum engaging in running battles with the police.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Sporadic protests
On 26 April 2013, protestors blocked a major road out of Khartoum in protest of a sell-off of farmland to Arabian investors. The crowds were dispersed by the authorities, wielding batons and tear gas. An alliance of four rebel groups called the Sudanese Revolutionary Front attacked the provincial town of Umm Ruwaba on 27 April. The government was eventually able to repel the attack, but ignited a local protest over lack of security in the region. Protestors stoned a government convoy the following day.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Sporadic protests
On the Bashir's 24th coup anniversary of 29 June, as many as 10,000 led by Sadiq al-Mahdi rallied in a square in Khartoum's twin city of Omdurman. Protesters held up signs saying: "The people demand the fall of the regime" and "Go Bashir". Hundreds of police officers were at the scene but they did not stop the rally.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Sporadic protests
More than 2,000 people took to the streets in Nyala on 18 September to demonstrate against the killing of a prominent businessman. They set several government buildings and cars on fire and burned tires, blocking roads and prompting police to fire teargas. Protesters shouted slogans before officers dispersed the crowd. Authorities later issued a nightly curfew in the, blaming the Darfuri rebels for trying to exploit the situation and enter the city.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
23 September 2013: Riots broke out after the government lifted its fuel and cooking gas subsidies to bring its budget under control. Within hours of petrol stations adjusting their price displays, some 800 protesters gathered in the center of Wad Medani, shouting "No, No to price hikes," while others called on Bashir to resign, yelling "Go, go." Three petrol stations and the branch of the French-Sudanese bank on the Soug El Kabir went up in flames, as also happened with a government administration unit at Soug El Malaja.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
The police reacted by shooting with rubber bullets and making heavy use of tear gas. Dozens of demonstrators were arrested. According to Sudan News Agency, police said a 23-year-old man was killed during a protest in Wad Madani but blamed unidentified gunmen opening fire from a passing vehicle that demonstrators had stoned. Activists however dismissed the government version and blamed government forces.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
In Khartoum, the capital of Sudan, where there were protests in El Deim, Soug El Arabi and El Nilein University, the police used tear gas and sticks to disperse the crowd. A number of activists of the Sudanese Party and of Girifna were arrested in Khartoum North. An activist informed Radio Dabanga that "thunderous demonstrations" started from El Deim popular neighbourhood, led by women shouting "down with the regime". They were surrounded by the security men after Amarat Street was closed. A number of women were arrested. At the Nilein University in Khartoum students went out to demonstrate but were quickly cordoned by a huge police force. The demonstrators then tried to restart their protests at the Soug El Arabi, which was also surrounded by police.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
Mohayed Siddig, a founding member of the youth movement "Sudan Change Now," was arrested following a raid on his home by six armed agents from the NISS. NISS agents searched his home for more than two hours, and also confiscated CDs, documents and Siddig's wife's laptop. By 2 October Siddig was still being held incommunicado and without charge, with Amnesty International claiming him to be at risk of torture and ill-treatment. Other members of "Sudan Change Now," including its spokesperson Amjed Farid, among others: Dahlia Elroubi, Omar Ushari and Khalid Omar, were also arrested.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
24 September 2013: Widespread protests continued for the second day in a row, with hundreds of students and citizens took to the streets in Sudan's largest city, Omdurman, across the Nile from Khartoum. Protests were to be seen in Souk El Shaabi and in the districts of El Thawrat (the main streets Shingeeti and El Nuss, and the El Rumi neighbourhood) and Umbadda (El Sabil, El Gimiaab and El Rashidin), to protest against the rise of prices of basic commodities and public transport.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
At least four Khartoum state buses, two petrol stations at Shingeeti and Sabrin and the traffic police office of Omdurman were reportedly set on fire. Also three floors of the main office of the ruling National Congress Party in Umbadda burned out. The protests, calling for the "overthrow of the regime", led to the closure of schools, shops, Souk Omdurman, the Souk El Shaabi, and the suspension of public transport. Most of the protesters were ordinary citizens and students from secondary schools. They took control of the main streets and neighbourhoods of Omdurman, burning tires, and shouting slogans 'down with the regime'. He added that after that the police closed the streets and started arresting dozens of protesters.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
In Khartoum, as listeners told Radio Dabanga, students of the University of Khartoum began to go out to demonstrate, despite the cordon of riot police cars around the university buildings. The main streets of the city witnessed violent clashes between demonstrators and the police and security men, which resulted in a number of injuries and deaths. The demonstrators set fire to a bus of Khartoum state and a number of petrol stations.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
27 September 2013: Two non-government groups in Sudan, Amnesty International and the African Center for Justice and Peace Studies, claim that police killed more than 50 protesters, by aiming gunfire at people's heads and chests. Government officials, however, have said that there were fewer than 29 deaths.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
Dr Sidgi Kaballo, a member of the Central Committee of Sudanese Communist Party, was arrested shortly after arriving in Sudan from the UK. Family members attempting to visit him on 30 September were turned away and told to return in 15 days. The NISS would not disclose the detained doctor's whereabouts to his family.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
30 September 2013: 200 protesters marched in the Burri district of Khartoum for a third day in order to show support for the "martyr" Salah Sanhouri. Sanhouri, 28, was a pharmacist who had been shot dead days earlier on Friday 27 September during a protest. 300 people also demonstrated at the main bus station in Omdurman, although were dispersed by police with tear gas. Police also reportedly fired tear gas at an anti-government rally of between 150 and 200 students on the campus of Ahfad University for Women.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
Dahlia Al Roubi and Rayan Zein Abideen, members of "Sudan Change Now," were taken to the NISS building in Emarat area where they were held without charge, access to lawyers or their families. By 2 October Amnesty International claimed to have received information that they had been moved to an unknown location


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
1 October 2013: Amnesty International claimed that in a new wave of arrests, security forces arrested at least 800 activists members of opposition parties, journalists, and others, in raids that took place on the night of Monday 30 September and the early hours of the morning on Tuesday 1 October.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
At a government press conference, the Sudanese Government responded to claims of photographic and video evidence of the crackdown against protesters by claiming that most of the photos were actually taken in Egypt, which has also been experiencing unrest. Bahram Abdelmoneim, a journalist with the Al Youm Al Taly newspaper, accused the government officials of lying when getting up to ask a question, and claimed that the deaths were caused by National Congress militias. Abdelmoneim was later unreachable after going to meet with government security agents.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
2 October 2013: The Ministry of the Interior announced that the government had arrested 700 "criminals" in Khartoum and elsewhere since the beginning of the new wave of protests on 23 September, however reports from journalists, opposition groups, and others maintain that a far greater number have been arrested. Arrests are often carried out under Sudan's 2010 National Security Act, which granted the National Intelligence and Security Service powers to detain suspects for up to four and a half months without any form of judicial review.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
Amnesty International also claimed that at least 17 members of the Sudanese Communist Party had been in and around Khartoum since the beginning of protests, alongside members of other parties, including 15 from the Sudanese Congress Party.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
The Sudanese Doctor's Union also claimed that at least 210 protesters had been killed in Khartoum alone by 2 October, with most dying from gunshot wounds to the head and chest.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
4 October 2013: In a press statement, Interior Minister Ibrahim Mahmoud Hami blamed the deaths of protesters on "armed groups and individuals." By 5 October, the Sudanese government had still not claimed responsibility for any of the deaths, which the government claimed to number only 34.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
Several hundred protesters gathered in Khartoum on Friday 4 October calling for the resignation of Omar al-Bashir, although the protests were far smaller than those in the week before.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
9 October 2013: In a live speech on national radio, President Omar al-Bashir claimed that the protests were part of an attempt to overthrow the government. Bashir however claimed that the government could not be overthrown as it was "guarded by God." Bashir also stated that the government was planning a major economic conference for November in order to gather experts in order to find solutions to help stabilize the economy.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
Bashir had previously claimed that demonstrators were linked to anti-government conspiracies, and Interior Minister Ibrahim Mahmoud Hamed had claimed that demonstrators were backed by foreign groups.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
By 9 October the Sudanese government had also upgraded its estimate for the number of deaths from the protests, giving a figure of 60–70. The Sudanese government also claimed that security forces had been forced to intervene when crowds turned violent and began attacking petrol stations and police.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
10 October 2013: Four children and four adults were convicted of vandalism during the protests.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
11 October 2013: Following Friday prayers, around 150 Sudanese pro-democracy activists and Islamists protested outside Khartoum's Grand Mosque. Demonstrators held banners reading "our revolution is peaceful". Security forces surrounded the area but stayed away from the protesters.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
21 October 2013: In an interview released on 21 October, President Omar al-Bashir claimed in an interview with Saudi newspaper Okaz that the unrest was mainly the work of rebel groups in Darfur, South Kordofan and Blue Nile states. Bashir claimed that the groups had waited for the lifting of subsidies, which had provided them an opportunity to attempt to overthrow the government. Bashir claimed that even Sudanese citizens were surprised by the scale of the unrest.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Protests, Protests against fuel price in September–October 2013
26 October 2013: Speaking to the AFP, Fadlallah Ahmed Abdallah, an MP with the National Congress Party, announced plans to secede from the NCP and form a new party following the government response to the protests. Abdallah claimed that the name and structure of the new party would be announced within a week.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Arrests and repression
On 17 January 2011, security forces in Sudan arrested the head of the Popular Congress Party, Hassan al-Turabi, as well as five other members of the party, after he called for a similar protest to oust the ruling government over electoral fraud, stoking inflation and abrogating civil liberties at a time when Sudan was facing a secessionist referendum.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Arrests and repression
The Committee to Protect Journalists said journalists are facing increasing harassment. On 30 January 2011, journalists were beaten by security forces and at least eight were detained. The following day, the distribution of several opposition newspapers was blocked by authorities.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Arrests and repression
During the anti-austerity protests in June 2012, the Egyptian journalist Salma El-wardany was detained on 21 June 2012 and later released after five hours in detention. A Sudanese citizen journalist Usamah Mohamad was arrested the following day. An Agence France-Presse reporter was also detained.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Arrests and repression
As of July 2012, over 2,000 activists have been detained since protests began in Khartoum on 16 June, the activist group Girifna reported. The majority of detainees are being held in NSS detention centres, which are known for the use of ill treatment and torture—including beatings, sleep and food deprivation, racism and sexual abuse. Authorities have reportedly beaten detainees with their fists, hoses, plastic pipes, sticks and metal bars.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Responses, Domestic
On 21 February 2011, President Omar al-Bashir announced that he would not seek to run in the presidential election in 2015.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Responses, Domestic
On 11 July 2012, President Omar al-Bashir dismissed opposition calls for an Arab Spring-style uprising in the African country, threatening that "a burning hot summer" awaits his enemies. Bashir also warned that Sudan's enemies would also be skewered.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Responses, International
USA – The U.S. State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland condemned the assault and detention of anti-austerity protestors, saying a crackdown on protestors will not solve Sudan's political and economic crises. "There have been reports of protestors being beaten, imprisoned and severely mistreated while in government custody. We call for the immediate release of those detained for peaceful protest."


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Responses, International
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information slammed the crackdown on protests, says Khartoum "must show respect for the human rights" of its citizens after Khartoum uses violence to disperse peaceful demonstrations: "There should be dialogue with the opposition and respect for the human rights of its citizens to express themselves and protest without harassment."


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Responses, International
The Organisation for Defence of Rights and Freedoms said that police in Sudan have attacked demonstrators with tear gas and rubber bullets and accused security forces of surrounding mosques where protests take place.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Responses, International
Human Rights Watch stated that the Sudanese security forces have arrested scores of protesters, opposition members, and journalists, beat people in detention, and used rubber bullets and even live ammunition to break up the anti-austerity protests. It further called on Sudan to end the crackdown on peaceful protesters, release people who have been detained, and allow journalists to report freely on the events.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Responses, International
The United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights urged the Sudanese authorities to ensure that the demonstration proceeds peacefully, without mass arrests and violent measures by security forces.


2011–2013 Sudanese protests, Responses, International
On 30 June 2012, Sudanese living outside Sudan stage protests in London, Dublin, Washington, D.C., Toronto, Paris, Cairo, New Delhi, Kuala Lumpur, Edinburgh, Sacramento, Canberra and other various locations to show solidarity with the ongoing anti-government protests in Sudan.