Russia’s enraged Internet users are finally getting a venue to demonstrate against the government’s decision to block the instant messenger Telegram. With a permit from City Hall in hand, the Libertarian Party is staging a protest on Monday, April 30, at 2 p.m. on Sakharov Prospekt in Moscow. Organizers are asking demonstrators to bring paper airplanes to the rally — the symbol depicted in Telegram’s official logo.
According to a website run by Russia’s Libertarian Party, the demonstration will call for the immediate unblocking of Telegram and all the IP addresses recently blacklisted by Roskomnadzor, the repeal of Russia’s new “anti-terrorism” laws and all “anti-Internet” regulations, the liquidation of Roskomnadzor and the prosecution of its head, Alexander Zharov, and the abolition of “anti-Internet lobbying.”
Anti-corruption activist Alexey Navalny has already endorsed the rally, and a hyperlink to his 2018 presidential campaign appears at the bottom of the protest’s official website.