Up to 30 thousand to protest in Moscow Saturday

MOSCOW. December 9. KAZINFORM Up to 30 thousand opposition activists were allowed to protest in downtown Moscow on Saturday against alleged violations at the December 4 parliamentary election, Deputy Mayor Alexander Gorbenko said late on Thursday.

Accoridng to Itar-Tass, initially Moscow authorities did not allow an opposition march and rally in Revolution Square in front of the Bolshoi Theater. However "event organizers agreed to hold a rally in Bolotnaya Square which Moscow authorities suggested as a venue in order to ensure security," Gorbenko said adding the applied number of participants in the December 10 event was 30 thousand and the rally is to last from 14:00 to 18:00 hours.

Bolotnaya Square is located in front of the Kremlin on the other bank of the Moskva River.

Calls to stage a mass protest rally were distributed through social networks after police brutally dispersed opposition activists and detained close to six hundred of them this week. The opposition claims there was ballot-box stuffing in favor of the ruling United Russia Party which lost its two-third majority in the State Duma, but nevertheless retained over a half of seats.

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