Police in the Russian capital of Moscow have detained ten activists organized a pedestrian protest against official cars using flashing lights to give them preferential passage, Echo Moskvy radio said.
The protesters said their action was a response to a recent initiative from Russian State Duma deputies to restrict protest rallies by motorists.
The protesters did not use any posters or slogans; however, police said the protest was not authorized. Police considered a blue bucket with an inscription "I am a flash light!" written on it as a poster.
The activists took to streets to the beat of drums, in wigs, with balloons and bubbles. One man was wearing on his head a blue plastic cup with a "VIP" inscription.
Russian media reported Friday The lower house of the Russian parliament, the State Duma, was reviewing a bill to restrict protest rallies by motorists after a demonstration caused traffic chaos in Moscow and St. Petersburg.
The motorists, who gathered on April 24, were protesting against official cars using flashing lights to give them preferential passage. A column of cars drove through the streets with plastic buckets attached to their roofs. The protest was repeated on April 28 by the Russian Motorists Federation.
The bill, which stipulates that participants of a protest may only be notified of the whereabouts of a rally after it had been agreed with the authorities, was drafted by deputies of the pro-Kremlin United Russia party, A Just Russia party and the Liberal Democratic Party of Russia.
MOSCOW, May 2 (RIA Novosti)
