Russian activists Pussy Riot have shared a new song protesting this week’s elections to the Moscow city parliament, which they describe in a press release as “corrupt”. Called “1937” – in reference to the year of Stalinist “mass murders and state terrorism” – the track calls for the release of political prisoners, and comes with a list of activists, bloggers, and peaceful protesters currently imprisoned.
The video opens with camera footage of a peaceful protest held by Moscow’s civil society this Summer, which were disrupted by violent attacks and mass arrests by the police. “Government met the people’s protest activity with an overly aggressive response: hundreds of injured with police batons, brutal mass arrests, bruises and blood on the streets of Moscow. We’ve personally been at those actions, some of us were beaten, some of us – arrested,” reads Pussy Riot’s statement.
Despite many of the arrested activists being released, Pussy Riot maintain that “there are a number of people who are going to spend years in prison camps because they joined the protests and tried to stop the police from slaughtering innocent unarmed people”.
The activist group continued to highlight the corruption by adding that none of the independent candidates in the city parliament election were registered: “Even worse – for making their political campaigns most of the independent candidates were arrested, from 10 up to 40 days in detention centers.”
Watch the video to “1937” below.