OMRI Daily Digest I, No. 87, 3 May 96

Activists from a number of public organizations, including the Radical Party and Memorial, took part in a demonstration on 2 May in Moscow to protest the war in Chechnya, Ekspress-khronikha reported. The demonstrators carried banners reading "Human life is more precious than the territorial integrity of Russia and the independence of Chechnya," "Peace in Russia! Life to our sons!" and "Troops go home, calm in Chechnya!" Organizer Irina Bagantseva told Ekho Moskvy that similar demonstrations will be held every Thursday in May and June. More than 120 Russian soldiers and many civilians have been killed in Chechnya in the first half of April despite the peace plan announced by Yeltsin on 31 March. -- Penny Morvant