Residents of Chechnya claim being forced to attend May Day rallies

On May 1, Grozny held a demonstration, which, according to the Council of Trade Unions of Chechnya, was attended by about 100,000 people. Residents of Chechnya claimed being forced to take part in the May Day demonstrations.

Civil servants and students have been warned in advance that they are to take part in the festive events on May 1.

"On April 30, we were warned that on the next day, we should be in Grozny to take part in the May Day demonstration," the "Caucasian Knot" correspondent was told by Vakhid, a student of the Grozny Technical University. And the student continued: "At the place, we were given flags of Russia and Chechnya, and we had to stand there for about 1.5 hours."

According to Lechi Kh., a resident of Grozny, local residents already perceive their participation in various activities in support of the authorities or other festivities as part of the job duties.

"All this is a mandatory duty. Every time, we are used as a crowd to show a positive picture from Chechnya. Although all the people got bored of that hypocrisy and window dressing long time ago, they got no choice. Nobody wants to lose the job or face other problems," the resident of Grozny believes.

Full text of the article is available on the Russian page of 24/7 Internet agency ‘Caucasian Knot’.