A column of hundreds of cars has paraded slowly through Moscow as motorists fed up with road chaos caused by traffic privileges for elites massed in a peaceful protest participants said reflected grassroots demand for more basic fairness in Russian life. The pretext of the unusual demonstration was the sentencing earlier this month of a man, Oleg Shcherbinsky, to four years in prison after he was blamed for the death of the Altai region's governor in a traffic accident because he was not quick enough to get out of the official's way.
"The Shcherbinsky case has resonated throughout Russian society," said Vassily Bochin, a 35-year-old computer programmer, who took part in the demonstration in Moscow, one of many cities due to take part in the nationwide protest that included planned rallies in 21 other cities.
"We want the law to be equal for everyone."
"Today Shcherbinsky -- Tomorrow You!" read placards posted in the windows of cars taking part in the protest, which was organized by a non-governmental organization calling itself the Free Choice Motorists' Movement.
Around 1,000 people in some 500 cars took part in the demonstration, which began at a site in northwest Moscow and travelled along roads frequently used by government officials.
Participants gathered afterwards on a hill overlooking Moscow to talk, but several busloads of anti-riot troops were parked nearby and authorites made clear that no permission had been given for a rally and none would be tolerated.
"If they try to hold one, we'll take measures," one police officer said.
Massive traffic jams plague Moscow and other big Russian cities but many government officials travel in cars with flashing blue lights on the roof and special license plates -- signs telling all "ordinary" drivers to clear the roads for them or face possible punishment.
"The situation is getting absurd," said Grigory Kharitonov, 30, who also took part in the Moscow protest. "This cannot be tolerated any longer. The Shcherbinsky trial showed yet again that the authorities view ordinary citizens as nothing more than cattle."
While Sunday's protest was ostensibly about the rights of motorists, it also had an unmistakeable political dimension and many of the cars had ribbons of orange and black fixed to antennas.
Organizers said the orange -- the symbolic color of the 2004 revolution in Ukraine -- was a warning to authorities that they must address the motorists' grievances, while the black was meant to signify "the death of Russian justice."
It highlighted an historic facet of Russian society -- a facet on clear display during the Soviet era -- in which ordinary citizens are expected to accept without question the ostentatious social privileges, including special treatment under the law, afforded to elites.
Asked why she was joining the protest, Svetlana Gavrilova, a 32-year-old sales clerk, said: "My husband is a chauffeur. The same thing that happened to Shcherbinsky could happen to him, or any of us, and I have two young children. What would I do then?"
Prior to his sentencing on February 3, Shcherbinsky's lawyers argued that he bore no blame in the death of the Altai regional governor, Mikhail Yevdokimov, because he did not even see his car approaching at a rate far above the speed limit and could not have moved in time even if he had.
"An innocent man was jailed for four years," said Denis Nadin, a Moscow office manager.
"I am afraid that I could easily find myself in the same position."
A similar protest took place Saturday in the central city of Barnaul while others were due Sunday in Saint Petersburg and other Russian cities.
The Free Choice Motorists' Movement set up a website (www.oleg.19may.ru) where anyone interested can find details on the Shcherbinsky case and plans for rallies in 22 Russian cities.
"Are the rules equal for everyone? Are Russian courts equal for everyone? They must be equal!" the website reads.
