MOSCOW, December 24 (Itar-Tass) — A member of the Public Chamber, Anatoly Kucherena, said he praised the work of the Moscow police at the rally on Academician Sakharov Avenue.
“All was at a high level. This was evident when the bars before the scene had been tried to be rocked, policemen prevented the incident immediately,” Kucherena told Itar-Tass.
In his words, police did everything consciously.
Kucherena also noted that the rally involved people with different views. “All people were benevolent. This is the culture of rallies,” the lawyer said. He appreciated the activities of the Moscow authorities, who had organised the rally.
The rally on Academician Sakharov Avenue in downtown Moscow has ended without any incident.
Its organisers could not gather the pledged number of attendees – 50,000 people. The rally had to last till 6 p.m. Moscow time, but it ended earlier. Now people are starting to leave the avenue. Policemen organised a special passage to the Komsomolskaya metro station.
About 29,000 people are being involved in the rally at once. This is little more than during the previous action on Bolotnaya Square. However, the organisers failed to gather the pledged number of attendees – 50,000 people.
“The Moscow Police Department said the number of rally participants – 50,000 people on Academician Sakharov Avenue does not correspond to reality. Supposing that the parameters of length and width are divided in two square metres [the minimal area for one people], the number of rally participants declared by organisers goes wrong. It is impossible even if we suppose people stand superdense – each per 1,5 square metres,” the department said.
“In addition, police estimate the number of participants in the rally by being guided by objective data – by reading metal detectors,” policemen explained.
Meanwhile, the rally organizers made public absolutely other figures, which differ several times even from those that some of them announced. According to blogger Navalny, about 100,000 people gathered on the avenue, Nemtsov stated about 200,000 protesters.
The demonstrators were carrying white balloons and white ribbons that are the symbols of the rally.
But not all speakers were welcomed unanimously. For instance, people barracked A Just Russia deputy Ilya Ponomarev, which was accompanied with the slogans “Give away your mandate!” The mob was seeking to interrupt Boris Nemtsov and Vladimir Ryzhkov, as well as Artemiy Troitsky with loud cries. Troitsky went on the stage in an extravagant white suit with a red bow-tie.
Garry Kasparov was also barracked, and, therefore, he was almost not heard.
Poet Dmitry Bykov, a well-known blogger Alexei Navalny, journalist Olga Romanova and writer Boris Akunin were already speaking up at the rally.
Big screens were placed on the stage, where Leonid Parfenov and oppositionist Sergei Udaltsov delivered their video addresses.
All speakers demand the fulfilment of the resolution, which was adopted at the protest action on the Bolotnaya Square, particularly the dismissal of Chairman of the Central Elections Commission Vladimir Churov and election rerun.
“People want to name our movement “Honest Russia”. The honesty is a key word that unites all of us. We want to live in an honest country,” Akunin said.
The speakers did not avoid the New Year holidays, not forgetting to congratulate all protesters on a coming holiday.
This time the organizers of the rally prepared better for it in the technical way – a good stage and a good sound were provided.
Reinforced police patrols are on duty at the rally site, a police helicopter is monitoring the situation from the air, the main police department deployed an operative headquarters.