Authorities urge Russians to skip anti-Putin protest 當局呼籲俄羅斯人不要參加反普廷示威

Authorities urge Russians to skip anti-Putin protest
當局呼籲俄羅斯人不要參加反普廷示威
2012-02-05◎俞智敏

Russian authorities sought to deter activists from turning up at a rally against Vladimir Putin’s rule, with the church calling on them to pray instead and the chief doctor urging them to stay home due to cold weather.
俄羅斯當局試圖阻止運動人士參與一場反對普廷統治的集會，教會更呼籲民眾應改用祈禱代替示威，衛生首長還以天氣酷寒為由呼籲民眾留在家中。

Tens of thousands are expected Saturday to march through Moscow to a square just over the Moscow river from the Kremlin to protest Putin’s grip on Russia, exactly one month before he stands in presidential polls on March 4.
預料有數萬人週六會在莫斯科街頭遊行到一處距克里姆林宮只有一河之遙的廣場上，以抗議普廷把持俄羅斯政權，這場集會距離普廷參選的3月4日總統大選投票剛好僅剩下一個月。

After much haggling the Moscow city hall has allowed opposition activists to go ahead with the march and subsequent rally, the opposition movement’s third major protest since fraud-tainted December parliamentary elections.
在經過連番討價還價之後，莫斯科市政府終於准許反對派運動人士如期舉辦遊行及其後的集會，這是反對派運動自去年12月被控舞弊的國會大選以來所舉辦的第3場大型示威活動。

The head of Russia’s Orthodox Church, which has been watching opposition calls to take to the streets to demand fair elections with growing unease, called on the faithful to eschew rowdy demonstrations for a peaceful prayer.
反對派人士呼籲民眾走上街頭以要求公平選舉的呼聲，讓一直靜觀情勢發展的俄羅斯東正教會愈來愈感到不安，教會領袖更呼籲信徒避免參加吵嚷的示威活動，改以平和的祈禱取代。

"Orthodox Christians don’t know how to take to the streets," Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill said in an address to Russians.
東正教大主教基里爾在向俄國民眾發表的演說中指出，「東正教基督徒不知道如何走上街頭。」

"But they are taking to heart what is happening today to our people, drawing in their mind clear historic parallels with the turpitude and forgetfulness of pre-revolutionary years, with disorder, chaos and the destruction of the country in the 1990s."（AFP）
「但他們正認真關注今天發生在我們人民身上的一切，並在心中將之與俄國大革命前的墮落與健忘，以及1990年代國家的失序，動亂及毀滅做出明確的歷史比較。」 （法新社）

新聞辭典

haggle：動詞，指爭議、討價還價，例句︰It’s traditional that you haggle over/about the price of things in the market.（在市場裡就商品討價還價是一種傳統。）

take to：片語，指經常開始從事某事，例句︰He’s taken to staying out very late.（他很習慣深夜在外遊蕩。）

parallel：名詞，指平行線，或指類似的人事物、比較，例句︰It would be easy to draw （= make） a parallel between the town’s history and that of its football club.（在這個城市的歷史與其足球隊的歷史之間，很容易就能找出可類比之處。）