Quiet rage as Russians honour slain leader

Protesters march in memory of Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who was gunned down near the Kremlin. Photo / AP

The mood in Moscow was grim, a quiet rage running through the crowd. What had been planned as an opposition march against President Vladimir Putin became something more, a massed protest against the bloody silencing of another voice of dissent.

Almost 20,000 people yesterday walked through the streets, braving the cold and the rain to protest against the murder of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov. Shot four times in the back on the Great Moskvoretsky Bridge near the Kremlin on Saturday by unknown assailants, Nemtsov had been due to speak at yesterday's rally. Instead his picture was on almost every placard. There was no chanting typical of opposition protests, no smiles and no speeches.

Throughout the march to Moskvoretsky Bridge, helicopters could be heard overhead. On the ground the presence of armed police was overwhelming. "Heroes never die. Those bullets pierced each and every one of us", read one placard.

A day after Russian national investigators speculated that anything from Islamic extremism to a business dispute could have been the motive for the killing, many demonstrators placed the blame squarely on Putin.

"They will never tell us who the killers were. But there is no doubt it was done by professionals, and the fact that it happened right next to the Kremlin - that says a lot, because ordinary hitmen wouldn't be able to pull that off," student Alexander Gucharov said.