Russian Facebook users have poured scorn on a promise by Russian President Dmitry Medvedev to investigate reports of electoral fraud.
At least 7,000 comments had appeared under his post by 20:00 GMT on Sunday, a day after the biggest anti-government protests since Soviet times.
An early random sample showed the comments were equally divided between hostility, support and neutrality.
Mr Medvedev prides himself on using social media.
He recently suffered an embarrassment on Twitter.
Having already conceded that some violations of electoral law had taken place at the parliamentary elections last Sunday, he went on Facebook to say he had issued instructions for all official reports on the conduct of the polls to be checked.
It was his comments on Saturday's election protests - some 50,000 people turned out in Moscow alone - which drew particular anger.
'Pathetic liar'
"I do not agree with either the slogans or statements heard at the rallies," Mr Medvedev wrote.
Facebook users pointed out that the chief, official slogan of the rallies had been "For Honest Elections".
Thousands of people have attended the biggest anti-government rally in the Russian capital Moscow since the fall of the Soviet Union.
As many as 50,000 people gathered on an island near the Kremlin to condemn alleged ballot-rigging in parliamentary elections and demand a re-run.
Other, smaller rallies took place in St Petersburg and other cities.
Communists, nationalists and Western-leaning liberals turned out together despite divisions between them.
The protesters allege there was widespread fraud in Sunday's polls though the ruling United Russia party did see its share of the vote fall sharply.
Continue reading the main story
“
Start Quote
The time has come to throw off the chains”
End Quote
Alexei Navalny
Jailed protest leader, in message posted on his blog
Demonstrations in the immediate aftermath of the election saw more than 1,000 arrests, mostly in Moscow, and several key protest leaders such as the anti-corruption campaigner Alexei Navalny were jailed.
A message from Mr Navalny was released through his blog, saying: "The time has come to throw off the chains. We are not cattle or slaves. We have a voice and we have the strength to defend it."
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin has never experienced popular protests like these before, the BBC's Steve Rosenberg reports from Moscow.
During his decade in power, first as president then prime minister, he has grown used to being seen as Russia's most popular and powerful politician.
But as one of the protesters put it to our correspondent, Russia is changing.
Milton Friedman and the Chicago School of Economics
eurozone members and others will adopt an accord with penalties for breaking deficit rules. It will be backed by a treaty between governments, not an EU treaty.
Moscow is braced for what the opposition claims will be the biggest demonstration in Russia for 20 years.
Tens of thousands are expected to gather in a square south of the Kremlin, in the latest show of anger over disputed parliamentary polls.
Smaller rallies are taking place in cities across the country.
The protesters allege Sunday's elections - which gave Prime Minister Vladimir Putin's ruling United Russia party a small lead - were fraudulent.
Hundreds of people have been arrested during anti-Putin protests over the past week, mainly in Moscow and St Petersburg.
At least 50,000 police and riot troops have been deployed in Moscow ahead of Saturday's protests.
The opposition says it is hoping for a turnout of 30,000 in the capital in the demonstration dubbed "For Fair Elections", due to begin at 14:00 (10:00 GMT).
Protests have already begun elsewhere, with several hundred marching in Vladivostok, seven timezones to the east of Moscow.
Showing posts with label Chile. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chile. Show all posts
Monday, December 31, 2012
Friday, December 21, 2012
Antarctic Territory
A formal protest note "strongly rejecting" the UK's claim to a piece of land known as the British Antarctic Territory.
The southern section was named Queen Elizabeth Land by Foreign Secretary William Hague on Tuesday.
The note claimed the area was part of the Argentine Antarctic sector.
It stated that the Argentine government "strongly rejected" Britain's right to rename the area.
Prior claims
Queen Elizabeth Land - which at 169,000 sq miles is almost twice the size of the UK - was previously unnamed, according to the British Foreign Office.
The UK first staked claim to the British Antarctic Territory in 1908. However, both Argentina and Chile insist they have prior claims to large areas of the same land.
The southern section of the territory has been named Queen Elizabeth Land
The British Antarctic Survey has three scientific research bases in the territory and the Royal Navy's ice patrol vessel HMS Endurance is stationed in the area for part of the year.
The 1959 Antarctic Treaty between 12 nations including Britain and Argentina, outlawed the establishment of new territorial claims in the Antarctic, but stated that it did not reject existing claims.
The Foreign Office said on Tuesday there was a precedent for naming parts of the continent after members of the British royal family.
East Antarctica is home to Princess Elizabeth Land, named after the Queen before she took the throne, and in 2006 an unnamed mountain range in the Antarctic peninsula was named the Princess Royal Range in tribute to the Queen's daughter.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Pinochet, may your legacy die
SANTIAGO, Chile -- The poster makes its plea from one of the pock-marked walls once splattered with blood at Londres 38, a former detention and torture center where 96 people were killed or disappeared during Chile's long dictatorship. It reads: "Pinochet, may your legacy die."
Yet that legacy is far from dead. Gen. Augusto Pinochet's loyalists on Sunday were holding their biggest gathering since his death in 2006, and it has ignited a national debate about the limits of freedom of speech as groups on the other side seek to block the event.
Police used tear gas and water cannon to try to disperse anti-Pinochet demonstrators protesting the premiere of a documentary about the run-up to his dictatorship years. The film casts him as a national hero who saved Chile from communism and who died victimized by vengeful leftists who accused him of embezzlement and human rights crimes.
The screening was organized by Corporacion 11 de Septiembre, named for the day when Pinochet seized power in a bloody 1973 coup that brought down the democratically elected government of Marxist President Salvador Allende.
"We want to set the record straight on Pinochet," Juan Gonzalez, a retired army officer who leads the pro-Pinochet movement, told The Associated Press. "We have stoically put up with the lies and cheating and seen how the story has been manipulated."
Although Gonzalez's own sister Francisca has said publicly she was tortured by Pinochet's forces, Gonzalez disputes that there were human rights abuses during the dictatorship. He says those killed and tortured were casualties of a war against leftist subversion.
"Why can't we have a documentary if they have their monument to Allende," he said, referring to a statue outside the presidential palace with Allende's last words: "I have faith in Chile and its destiny. "
The homage for Pinochet comes against a backdrop of increasing political divisions, with widespread street protests demanding more diversity in political parties as well as free education, protection of the environment and a more even distribution of the country's wealth.
Chile remains highly polarized over Pinochet and his 1973-90 reign.
Yet that legacy is far from dead. Gen. Augusto Pinochet's loyalists on Sunday were holding their biggest gathering since his death in 2006, and it has ignited a national debate about the limits of freedom of speech as groups on the other side seek to block the event.
Police used tear gas and water cannon to try to disperse anti-Pinochet demonstrators protesting the premiere of a documentary about the run-up to his dictatorship years. The film casts him as a national hero who saved Chile from communism and who died victimized by vengeful leftists who accused him of embezzlement and human rights crimes.
The screening was organized by Corporacion 11 de Septiembre, named for the day when Pinochet seized power in a bloody 1973 coup that brought down the democratically elected government of Marxist President Salvador Allende.
"We want to set the record straight on Pinochet," Juan Gonzalez, a retired army officer who leads the pro-Pinochet movement, told The Associated Press. "We have stoically put up with the lies and cheating and seen how the story has been manipulated."
Although Gonzalez's own sister Francisca has said publicly she was tortured by Pinochet's forces, Gonzalez disputes that there were human rights abuses during the dictatorship. He says those killed and tortured were casualties of a war against leftist subversion.
"Why can't we have a documentary if they have their monument to Allende," he said, referring to a statue outside the presidential palace with Allende's last words: "I have faith in Chile and its destiny. "
The homage for Pinochet comes against a backdrop of increasing political divisions, with widespread street protests demanding more diversity in political parties as well as free education, protection of the environment and a more even distribution of the country's wealth.
Chile remains highly polarized over Pinochet and his 1973-90 reign.
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