Masha Gessen: 10-Mile Human Chain Around Moscow

Masha Gessen, who visits March 8, writes about her participation in the latest protest against Russian strongman Vladimir Putin:

MOSCOW — I spent an hour standing on the sidewalk in grayish sleet on Sunday, and it was wonderful. Tens of thousands of people had come out to link arms around Moscow’s nine-mile Garden Ring road and form a "white circle," white being the color of the Russian protest movement. Where I was, linking arms proved impractical because people stood on the sidewalk two and three deep, and so clumps were created. There was strolling and mingling when a famous actress, celebrity lawyer and other prominent Muscovites were spotted. There was also a lot of waving: as cars drove by, drivers and passengers honked to protesters and brandished out their windows all things white — tiny ribbons and cheerleader pompoms and bed sheets.

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