Over 12,000 people attend 1st-ever rally on Minecraft organized by Russian political party

Over 12,000 people took part this week in a first-of-its-kind digital political rally organized by the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia (LDPR) on the occasion of Labor Day.

Members of the party erected a monument to its founder, Vladimir Zhirinovsky, who passed away last year, on a server of the popular Minecraft game and called on their supporters to virtually gather near it on Monday.

"The virtual rally announced earlier by the LDPR in the Minecraft game at the monument to Vladimir Zhirinovsky, which was built for the politician's birthday on April 25, took place. Moreover, the organizers themselves obviously did not expect such interest from gamers," the LDPR's press service said, adding that after the number of requests to join exceeded 12,000, the threshold of the server's capability was reached and the rally was cut short due to a server crash.

A member of the Russian parliament from the LDPR, Andrey Svintsov, said it was just the first event of this kind, and the party plans to use Minecraft and other game platforms for communications with voters and attracting new supporters.

He said the LDPR is becoming "the first digital party of Russia."