Why Russians dare to protest and risk wrath of authorities

In a few days, on September 8, Russians will vote in municipal and regional parliamentary elections.

In Moscow, the lead-up to elect the 45 members of the city "Duma", or parliament, has been marked by an unexpected succession of large rallies for free and fair polls, organised by the opposition and mostly met with a crackdown.

Discontent rose in mid-June when Moscow's electoral committee denied no less than 57 opposition and independent candidates - supported by thousands of Muscovites - a spot on the ballot for the city legislature.

Some well-known opposition figures, among more than 200 total candidates to the five-year tenure, were barred from running.

Observers claim the committee's motives are dubious at best.

This past weekend, in the sixth protest of the summer, about 2,000 people rallied in the Russian capital. They demonstrated against alleged political repression, with most young liberal opposition leaders later jailed with 10 to 30-day sentences for calling the initial protests.

Moscow authorities and the Kremlin still expect this window of turmoil to close and be forgotten about quickly once the vote ends.

The real takeout from these events is not the harsh response by police, but the people's response, this new civic response ... the trend is definitely upwards.

But while Saturday's demonstration drew a slimmer crowd, the opposition showed resilience and a tough security response has failed to dampen the movement.

Public dissatisfaction with Russian power, recently more visible in other regions over local or environmental issues, "came to Moscow, a city that is usually well-fed, a city of state employees," said political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann, a professor at the School of Public Policy of the Russian Presidential Academy.

"Of course, the ban has angered them," she said, describing a sense of disenfranchisement among the voters.

"We've seen this kind of grassroots organisation pop up, locals helping each other about protesting, gathering.

"When people get in a 'protest mood', they usually take part massively."

'Harsh police response galvanised activists'

The Duma yields little real power - but does greenlight the city's budget - andcity parliament polls usually pass without much public interest.

Sam Greene, director of the Russia Institute at King's College, London, said the hardline response has raised awareness on the ballot and ramped up the protesters' determination.

More than 2,000 people have been arrested at the demonstrations, with some activists facing several years in jail for rioting charges.

"The harsh police response has galvanised the activists even more and transformed regular voters into protesters," said Greene.