Cold weather could impact Russia protest

Topics: World Watch

Opposition activists protest against the alleging mass fraud in the December 4 parliamentary polls in central Moscow, on December 10, 2011.

(Credit: YURI KADOBNOV/AFP/Getty Images)

(CBS/AP) Low temperatures could put a deep freeze in the amount of demonstrators for a protest against Prime Minister Vladimir Putin slated for Saturday as told by opposition leaders, Reuters reported.

With temperatures possibly falling to minus 13 degrees Celsius, the number of demonstrators participating in the march "For Honest Elections" could be reduced. That protest is competing with pro-Putin rallies in Moscow.

"I have the feeling that every degree colder it gets, we lose 5,000 people," liberal politician Boris Nemtsov, a protest organizer, told Reuters.

With tens of thousands of protesters expected on the streets of Moscow on Saturday, doctors advised those taking part in the demonstrations to protect themselves from the cold as their grandmothers used to do: by wearing felt boots and smearing their faces with goose or pig fat.

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Protesters also were encouraged to eat a big breakfast, preferably including meat, and refrain from drinking alcohol.

Widespread protests have stemmed from charges of fraud surrounding Putin's party in the parliamentary elections last December. Tens of thousands of people marched on December 10 and 24.

Putin at the time rejected calls for a rerun of the vote. His United Russia party retained a slim majority in parliament in the December elections, but lost about 25 percent of its seats.

"The results of this election undoubtedly reflect the real balance of power in the country," Putin had said. "It's very good that United Russia has preserved its leading position."

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