Patriotic Demonstrations in St Petersburg
On Nevsky Prospect As the latest news came from the theatre of war yesterday evening, people came out on to the streets and before long a huge crowd had gathered on the corner of Sadovaya Street and Nevsky Prospect and was heading towards the statue of Emperor Alexander II on Znamenskaya Square.
There “Eternal Memory” was sung and then with a mighty voice the crowd sang the national anthem, drowning the sound of the last words with deafening cries of “Hurrah.”
From Znamenskaya Square the vast crowd returned to the Kazan Cathedral where there were speeches, the national anthem and prayers for the Tsar and the motherland.
At the Naval Ministry From the Kazan Cathedral the crowd moved onto the Admiralty.
“To the Sailors,” they cried. Many more people rapidly joined the procession so that by the time it reached the square outside the Winter Palace there were about 10,000 to 12,000 in the throng.
Arriving at the Alexander Column, the demonstrators dropped to their knees. Portraits of the Sovereign Emperor and the heir to the throne were raised. The elegant and powerful strains of the song “God Save Your People”filled the whole square and surrounding area......
At the Ministry of Defence The joyous crowd went to the defence ministry on Isaac Square. . ...
Some generals and officers appeared on the ministry balcony.
One after another the generals gave speeches, and listened to replies, at the same time as thanking the demonstrators for greeting the army.
“We are happy to die, but we’ll defeat them! Enough of the Germans! It’s time to wake up! ” came the cries.
Some of the crowd went off to Vosnesensky Prospect and others to the English embassy where they were greeted by representatives of the mission.
There was a huge demonstration late in the evening at the Serbian embassy.
In Moscow (by telephone from our own correspondent) Moscow is continuing to react to the recent events with non-stop demonstrations.
A small crowd gathered in the morning after war was declared and then gradually moved towards the Skobelev statue.
An inspirational demonstration began at 8 o’clock in the evening. A vast crowd of at the very least 60,000 to 70,000 people headed towards Red Square.
Here there were many speeches by civic figures, the secretary of the Serbian consul, youth groups and members of the public.
All the speeches conveyed one and the same message that unity was vital if the Slavs were to be protected from German aggression...
From Red Square the crowd went to the city Duma [parliament] where they were met by the speaker, A Guchkov. He welcomed them and gave a short, encouraging address.
Then the crowd went to Miyuskaya Square. At the 1812 memorial the demonstrators unrolled portraits of the Emperor and the Empress and banners proclaiming "Down with Austria. " The national anthem was sung. The crowd was in the highest spirits possible. With cries of "Long Live France and Long Live England," they moved off towards the French and English consuls.
Most of the buildings on Tverskaya Street were decorated with banners proclaiming “Down with Austria,” and “Down with Germany.”
The demonstrations continued far into the night.
Additional mounted and foot policemen were deployed to bolster security at the Austrian and German consuls.
Peterburgsky Listok
August 1st 1914
