THOUSANDS TURN OUT FOR NATIONWIDE PROTEST. According to Interfax, initial reports from the Interior Ministry suggest that more than 60,000 people turned out for public protests in the Far East on 7 October--a much smaller turnout than organizers had expected. In Vladivostok only 3,000, rather than the expected 5,000 citizens, participated, AP reported. ITAR-TASS estimated that turnout in Novosibirsk was some 35,000 people. Nakhodka witnessed one of its largest protest meetings the previous day when about 3,000 gathered in the city's main square. An RFE/RL correspondent in Novosibirsk noted that the centerpiece of protesters demands was the payment of back wages but that they also called for the resignation of President Boris Yeltsin. An RFE/RL correspondent in Irkutsk reported that cold weather thinned the ranks of protesters in that Siberian city, with mostly pensioners and Communist Party activists showing up. JAC -- Gregory Schwartz Department of Political Science York University 4700 Keele St. Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3 Canada Tel: (416) 736-5265 Fax: (416) 736-5686 Web: http://www.yorku.ca/dept/polisci
