Thousands rally for pay, pensions across Russia

Thousands of Russians took to the streets across the vast country Thursday to condemn controversial social reforms that were launched by President Vladimir Putin and now see his government facing rare discontent.
Small but angry rallies were staged from Vladivostok on Russia's Pacific coast to Moscow and its government White House where more than a thousand people gathered around a bridge historically used for demonstrations in the early tumultuous post-Soviet years.
It was a rare display of resistance in an era dominated by overwhelming support for Putin's policies and was meant to coincide with a government decision on how pensioners and others who receive help from the state are to be compensated.
The old system was dominated by subsidies - from free travel on public transport to low prices on medicines. The new programme would see this replaced by higher single monetary payments.
The pensioners and workers - along with their union representatives - argue that the monetary compensation does not match the lost privileges.
Putin's government responds that the Soviet-era system now in place is rife with corruption and must be revamped. The government also wants to see regional official rather than Moscow pay more for the compensations.
The regions plead poverty and argue that Moscow must pay through its banking and oil wealth for the less privileged.
The protest began at dawn Thursday in the Far East and continued throughout the day across Russia's 11 time zones.
Some of the largest rallies were staged across remote swathes of central Siberia that rarely receive attention in the Moscow media.
More than 1,000 people rallied in resource-rich but economically backward Krasnoyarsk while more than 700 people jeered the head of the Altai Republic on the Mongol border after he walked out of the government building in a bid to address their concerns.
The protests came against the backdrop of a week-long hunger strike by mine workers in Russia's southern Rostov region that has spread and now includes up to 66 people demanding more than a year of back pay.
They also hit several government buildings in Moscow - including parliament and the government White House where nearly 1,500 banner-waving protesters demanded better treatment of doctors, teachers and pensioners alike.