"Disagreement March" in Moscow will be guarded by 2000 militiamen

In Moscow, during the today's meeting of the oppositional coalition "The Other Russia" safety will be ensured by more than two thousand militiamen, a spokesman of Moscow's GUVD (Chief Interior Department) has told the RIA "Novosti" today.

According to the GUVD's spokesman, the "disagreement" meeting will start at 4:00 p.m. in the centre of Moscow with the audience of 500 declared participants.

The "Caucasian Knot" has already informed that the authorities of the city had allowed the opposition to hold only a meeting in Novopushkinskiy Mini-Park; however, the organizers of the action have declared that they would also organize a march along Tverskaya Street as it had been planned.

The organizers of the "Disagreement March" that will take place today in the centre of Moscow in Pushkinskaya Square are going to hold their action according to the scenario of the similar meeting in St Petersburg held on June 9, which passed without incidents, and hope that the action in Moscow will be peaceful.

"We hope that the March will go and end peacefully and in a civilized way and will not differ greatly in this aspect from the one held in St Petersburg," Alexander Averin, one of the organizers of the action and representative of the banned National-Bolshevik Party, has stated. According to Mr Averin's forecast, several thousands persons will take part in the event.

The "Caucasian Knot" has already informed that the coalition of democratic and left-wing political organizations "The Other Russia" is periodically holding actions named "Disagreement Marches" in different cities of Russia. At these meetings, those "disagreed" demand, as a rule, to enforce social reforms and bring political freedoms back to Russia, first of all - free elections.

A rather broad-scale "Disagreement March" was held in Moscow on April 14, 2007; and on April 15, a similar action took place in St Petersburg. The law enforcement bodies applied force to disperse the demonstrations. According to the organizers of the action, about 500 persons were detained in Moscow during the March. By the same estimates, some 100 persons suffered from OMON (Special Militia) actions in the capital of the country. Only Emergency Station No. 137 located in the Presnya was visited by 54 persons who needed medical help.

The participants of the "Disagreement March" in Moscow were activists of the Movement against Chechen War from the Anti-War Club, International Human Rights Society "Memorial", Committee for Anti-War Actions, Society of Russian-Chechen Friendship and other organizations. According to the participants from the Anti-War Club and Human Rights Centre "Memorial," about three thousand persons took part in the March in Moscow.

According to the data announced by Victor Biryukov, official representative of the Moscow's GUVD, about 250 participants of the "Disagreement March" were detained in Moscow, while in the "North Capital" (St Petersburg), according to local GUVD, 170 persons were detained.

The Human Rights Watch Organization has stated that at suppressing the "Disagreement March" in Moscow, which was not coordinated with the authorities, the militia had applied "disproportionate force." Mr Rene Van Der Linden, Chairman of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, then stated that he thought "inadmissible" the application of force to disperse the demonstrations in Moscow and St Petersburg.

Meanwhile, General Public Prosecutor of Russia Yuri Chaika has stated that the OMON actions during the "Disagreement March" were lawful, while Dmitri Peskov, First Deputy Press Secretary of Russian President, said in his interview to the Russia Today TV Channel that he estimated the "Disagreement March" as a "rather limited in its participants," and the OMON actions as "exaggerated."