Riot police just off Pushkinskaya Square in Moscow during the June 11 Dissenters’ March – photo by LJ user msmetana On Dec. 6, 2006, Maria Gaidar, leader of the Da! (“Yes!”) youth movement and daughter of former acting premier Yegor Gaidar, and Ilya Yashin, leader of the youth wing of Grigory Yavlinsky‘s Yabloko party, featured in a Global Voices translation that dealt with their intrepid attempt to protest a bill that abolished minimum voter turnout (20 percent) for all elections in Russia: they had spent an hour and a half suspended on ropes from a Moscow bridge facing the Kremlin, flying a 10-meter banner that said: “GIVE THE ELECTION BACK TO THE PEOPLE, BASTARDS!” Earlier this month, following the June 11 Dissenters’ March in Moscow, both Gaidar and Yashin briefly found themselves in the Russian blogosphere's spotlight again – and here's why. There was no police “overreaction” during the opposition's latest Dissenters’ March in Russia's capital – possibly, because the organizers decided not to follow up the rally on Pushkinskaya Square with the actual marching. Everyone made their speeches – or so it seemed, until the blogosphere offered a not-so-pleasant revelation: Maria Gaidar was prevented from addressing the crowd by, allegedly, Eduard Limonov, leader of the National Bolshevik Party (NBP) and Garry Kasparov‘s close ally in the Other Russia anti-government coalition. Ilya Yashin (LJ user yashin) happened to be among the first whistleblowers when he wrote this (RUS) on his blog on June 12: Attended the Dissenters’ March yesterday. To be honest, I'm not very happy. Too many hammers and sickles, too many [Russian Imperial flags], too many fervent “Long live Russia” chants… Some guy was saying from the stage that “democracy ended in 1991″ – and was booed by part of the crowd. And when the [National Bolsheviks] started yelling “Russia is all, the rest is nothing,” my mood was ruined completely. But I do not regret having attended. And I'll come next time, too. First, because it's stifling in the country, and the Dissenters’ March has the spirit of freedom. Second, after the April beatings it was impossible not to come. I'd like to say a few words about the following. [Maria Gaidar] was supposed to speak at yesterday's rally. Half an hour before the beginning, both she and I were offered to say something by the organizers. But Eduard Limonov learned about it and issued an ultimatum: if they let Mashka speak, he's leaving. The organizers apologized to Gaidar and she ended up without an opportunity to make an address. So here goes. Eduard Veniaminovich, you… how to say this politely?.. you are taking too much upon yourself. Have you forgotten what you were yesterday? Have you forgotten about Stalin-Beriya-Gulag? About how you were calling Yeltsin to initiate bloodshed in Chechnya? About how you demanded the dispersal of anti-war rallies of the 1990s? We are going against our principles after this, when we stand next to you on stage and tolerate your emblems, which imitate Hitler's banners. And you should appreciate it that many people believe that you really do not subscribe to your past cannibalistic convictions anymore. Respect the people, Eduard Veniaminovich. Maria Gaidar (LJ user m_gaidar) offered her perspective (RUS) on the incident on June 13: I feel obliged to comment on the situation, since a scandal has broken out because of my failure to speak at the Dissenters’ March. Before the rally, Aleksandr Osovtsev came up to me and suggested that I speak. I agreed. About five minutes before the rally began, he apologized and said that Limonov is categorically against my address, that he had threatened to leave. I am not part of the Other Russia, nor was I one of the organizers of this rally, and I think that the organizers have the right to decide who will speak and who won't. I didn't want to [make this incident public] because I knew that everyone would immediately attack the Other Russia and the Dissenters’ Marches. That's why I only told several people about it, those I came there with, those who knew that I was to speak at the rally. And I asked not to spread this information… It's a pity that this ugly episode has become public. I, like many of you, am not comfortable with Limonov. I'm not comfortable with their emblem, with their rhetoric. I'm not comfortable when those on stage say that democracy ended in 1991 and yell that “Russia is all, the rest is nothing.” The only reason I try to ignore this is because there are real political prisoners in the ranks of NBP. These people are in jail for this slogan: “Respect our Constitution.” The traditional myth circulated by the [National Bolsheviks] is that [they] are the vanguard of the marches. We held a rally two years ago, also on June 12.