Russia's leading opposition activists, who were detained then shortly released after Monday’s post-election anti-Putin rally, will hold another protest march on Saturday, an organizer of the protest, journalist Sergei Parkhomenko said.
“We have filed three applications for March 8,9 and 10. It is clear that nobody will stage three rallies at once. The applications were filed in advance so that we could choose a date,” Parkhomenko said, adding that the new protest would be held on March 10.
About 20,000 people, according to opposition estimates, gathered on Monday on Pushkinsakya Square in central Moscow to protest against Putin’s landslide victory at the presidential polls, which they believe were marred by mass voter fraud.
Riot police quickly broke up the meeting when some 2,000 people, including activists Alexei Navalny, Ilya Ponomaryov, Ilya Yashin and opposition Left Front leader Sergei Udaltsov refused to leave the square after the end of the rally.
Opposition leaders were detained and then released on Tuesday morning.
A new protest, scheduled for March 10, will take the form of a march, Parkhomenko said, adding that the opposition cancelled rallies that had previously been announced for March 8 and 9.
Moscow authorities have yet to approve Saturday’s march.
Police reported that about 250 people were detained on Monday, while opposition parliamentary deputy Ponomaryov said there were 1,000 detainees, including dozens who tried to block the Tverskaya Street, which leads to the Kremlin.
All of those detained were released on Tuesday, the city's police said.
