Red flag is lowered on Communist Party HQ

 

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Russian President Boris Yeltsin celebrates the failure of the August 1991 Soviet coup from a tank - Andre Durand - AFP
Russian President Boris Yeltsin celebrates the failure of the August 1991 Soviet coup from a tank. Andre Durand - AFP

Russian President Boris Yeltsin scuppered the August 1991 coup by reactionary communists and then lost no time in passing decrees to ensure he held the real reins of power in the USSR.

Here is a report in the aftermath by AFP special correspondent Bertrand De Saisset on the day his supporters took the central committee building.

MOSCOW, August 23, 1991 (AFP) - A whole world collapsed at 6:30 pm Moscow time on Friday in the Russian capital. In front of a crowd of several hundred people, the red flag, symbol of the Bolshevik revolution, was lowered from the seat of the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party where it had been flying proudly.

Shortly afterwards, the blue, red and white flag of tsarist Russia, with its two-headed eagle, took its place on the main door of the building which the liberal-leaning Moscow town hall had taken control.

"Russia, Russia!" chanted the crowd.

- 'First free man' -

Misha, a small five-year-old boy had set the scene shortly before, urinating on the building's edifice, to applause from the crowd.

A man took him in his arms shouting: "This is Russia's first free man."

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Russian President Boris Yeltsin on the balcony of the Russian parliament, August 22, 1991 - Igor Zarembo - AFP
Russian President Boris Yeltsin on the balcony of the Russian parliament, August 22, 1991. Igor Zarembo - AFP

Benefiting from the confusion, another demonstrator approached the wall to put up a poster on which he demanded a Nuremberg- style trial for the Soviet Communist Party similar to the ones of Nazi leaders after World War II in the German town of the same name.

A similar scene unfold a stone's throw away at 7:20 pm. The red flag was removed from its roof of the central committee of the youth wing of the party. Twenty minutes later the Russian flag replaced it.

Things had moved very quickly that Friday afternoon.

- Human chain -

At 2:00 pm thousands of people had gathered following reports that the central committee of the communist party was preparing to flee, taking away documents with them.

A human chain was set up around the building to prevent the crowd ransacking the building and to prevent communist party officials inside from fleeing.

A police officer told AFP that he had received orders from Thursday evening to prevent anyone from leaving.

On Nikitnikov street, several cordons of youths coming from the Russian parliament blocked cars from the central committee from leaving.

The evacuation of the administrative staff was carefully controlled and police were ordered to open everyone's briefcases.

"Shame on you," shouted the demonstrators as they saw the officials leave.

At that point an official from the mayor's office announced to the ever decreasing number of demonstrators that Mayor Gavriil Popov had ordered the the premises of the party be sealed off until a probe into its role in the coup had been finished.

At the Russian parliament, the president of the Russian Federation Boris Yeltsin signed a decree suspending the activities of the party in Russia.

- Gorbachev in the crosshairs -

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Moscovites celebrate the failure of the coup, on August 22, 1991 in Red Square - Anatoly Sapronenkov - AFP
Moscovites celebrate the failure of the coup, on August 22, 1991 in Red Square. Anatoly Sapronenkov - AFP

The call from the Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev to not give in to "anti-communist hysteria" and the proposal from a Russian parliamentarian to dismantle the party as a criminal organisation went against the tide.

The Moscow town authorities who were negotiating the departure of the old guard at the central committee headquarters, including members of the KGB, stepped up their appeals for calm, fearing things would spin out of control.

It remained to be seen what the city hall would do with the building. "It belongs to the people. It is up to the people to decide what we will do with it," said Pavel, a member of the Russian security service.

The seizing of the Winter Palace during the Bolshevik revolution was not repeated this Friday. The city authorities did everything to take control peacefully of this symbol of 70 years of totalitarianism.

Two men wrote in chalk near the door: "We did it 07/11/1917 and again in 23/08/91."