Tipping the hat to Gateway Pundit for letting me know about this. You may remember when about a week and a half ago ten thousand protestors in Bashkortostan gathered to demand their president’s resignation. Today, they took it on an airplane straight to Moscow.

7 April 2005 — Activists from the central Russian republic of Bashkortostan flew to Moscow today to call for the removal of Bashkortostan President Murtaza Rakhimov.

Roughly 200 activists planned to deliver a petition to the Kremlin that they claim carries 100,000-plus signatures. Opponents accuse Rakhimov of human rights abuses and corruption.

The group has official permission to hold a demonstration today outside the Moscow headquarters of the Federal Security Service (FSB).

Ramil Bignov, a senior member of an umbrella opposition coalition, has described the protest as a call for Rakhimov’s departure and an effort to draw Moscow’s attention to the republic’s problems.

President Rakhimov has ruled the predominantly Muslim republic since 1993. Russian President Vladimir Putin backed his reelection in 2003.

Bashkortostan’s opposition plans to erect a tent city near the presidential-administration building in Ufa on 1 May as part of its continuing campaign of protests.

A four-day security operation in the Bashkir city of Blagoveshchensk left hundreds of locals alleging that they had been beaten or abused, heightening public dissatisfaction and prompting rights groups to accuse authorities of gross rights violations.

A tent city! I love those.

The ITAR-TASS Russian news agency describes it differently — obviously.

MOSCOW, April 7 (Itar-Tass) — Advocates of human rights from Bashkortostan have gathered at a commemoration stone to victims of Stalinist repressions in Lubyanka square in Moscow on Thursday, demanding the resignation of Bashkortostan President Murtaza Rakhimov. Around 200 protesters with flags and slogans in their hands turned up. Some of them have prisoner overalls on.

The protest act authorized by the Moscow city authorities was to begin at 3.00 p.m., but was postponed because a flight from Ufa that carried the protesters to Moscow was delayed.

A 65-strong police cordon is ensuring law and order on the scene: the situation is normal, no incidents have been reported, a source from the Moscow Interior Department told Tass.

Here’s a few more quotes and information.

???????Georgia, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan. The next stop is possible in Bashkortostan,??????? opposition leader Ramil Bignov said on Tuesday. ???????But we will act within the law,??????? he pledged, adding that 150 supporters had chartered a plane to fly to Moscow and join the protest, the BBC reported.

Opposition activists also plan to picket the presidential administration building in the Bashkir capital, Ufa, from May 1, and build a tent camp there.

Last weekend, 5,000 protesters rallied in Ufa. They railed against welfare reforms replacing state benefits with cash payments and demanded that the Tartar tongue be declared official in government, alongside those of the Bashkir and Russian languages. They called for nationalization of oil companies they claim were illegally seized by the president????????s family.

Radiy Khabirov, chief-of-staff to President Rakhimov, told Moskovskiye Izvestia newspaper last week the opposition was financed by Murtaza Rakhimov????????s son, Ural. Conflict between father and son became public in February. Tension broke out when members of the parliament close to Ural Rakhimov sought to oust the assembly????????s speaker, Konstantin Tolkachev, loyal to the president. ???????The son tried to seize power in parliament and now he is sponsoring those opportunists,??????? Khabirov said. Opposition protesters deny ties with the son.

This is not the first time the Bashkir opposition has tried to seize power from the head of state. In presidential elections last December, he faced strong competition from Sergei Veremeyenko, seen by some as the Kremlin????????s protege, and LUKoil top manager Ralif Safin.

Opposition supporters are showing their loyalty to federal authorities. ???????Many media reports call us ???????orange???????? but our ???????orange protests???????? are aimed solely against Bashkortostan????????s corrupt authorities. We have no other goals,??????? opposition leader Anatoly Dubovsky said on Tuesday. However, opposition supporters warn that protests might go out of control ???????if Moscow ignores demands made by the Bashkir people.???????

The republic is tense. At the end of February, thousands of protesters passed a resolution demanding the president????????s departure, accusing him of ???????violating the constitution, ignoring Russian laws and abusing the rights and freedoms of citizens.???????

Those up in arms wanted to submit their resolution to the president but 50 meters from the government building, police blocked their way. An appeal would be made to Russian leader Vladimir Putin, they vowed.

Daniel asked earlier if Russia itself is ripe for revolution. With the stepping up of these protests and those occuring recently in Ingushetia, it’s just another sign that slowly but surely the revolutions of the former CIS states are having an effect.

Is anyone else wondering if the Red Pora campaign is in on this?