New Delhi: Russian communists, led by Communist Party chief Gennady Zyuganov, defied the coronavirus lockdown and marched to Vladimir Lenin’s tomb to mark his 150th birth anniversary Wednesday.
The parade, which was attended by dozens of people, marched through Moscow’s Red Square to lay flowers on Lenin’s mausoleum. It is an annual tradition that is observed on 22 April on the occasion of Lenin’s birthday, who was the leader of the Russian Revolution in 1917 and was the head of Soviet Union government from 1917 to 1924.
According to Reuters, a policeman said that the Communist Party had received special permission to organise the event.
Moscow is one of the hardest-hit regions by the coronavirus and has been under lockdown for the past three weeks. People are allowed to go out only to buy groceries and medicines, walk dogs or take out the trash.
Vladimir Zhirinovsky, the Nationalist Liberal Democratic Party head, called for the arrest of those who participated in the parade.
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Lenin’s tomb was closed due to Covid-19
Russia has been trying to curb all forms of activities and parades to arrest the spread of the infection.
The government ordered 15,000 troops, who participated in the rehearsals of the Victory Day Parade, to quarantine themselves for 14 day Monday. They had also postponed the parade, which was scheduled for 9 May, to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Soviet Union’s victories in World War II.
Russia closed Lenin’s tomb at Red Square to the public in March due to the coronavirus scare.
The country has more than 60,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus and the death toll has reached 555. The number of cases increased by 4,774 Thursday. The low number of deaths have sparked suspicions and experts warn that Russia’s testing capacity is increasingly being hampered by its bureaucracy with the actual number of cases likely to be much higher.
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