MOSCOW, February 19 (Itar-Tass) —— The motor campaign “For Fair Elections” has slowed down traffic in downtown Moscow. The average traffic speed is less than15 kilometers per hour in the majority of central streets and many sections of the Garden Ring, judging by the Yandex Probki (Traffic Jams) service.
The protesters claim that traffic jams are created artificially. “Traffic is slow and we have not driven through the Garden Ring in the past two hours,” a protester wrote in his Twitter blog.
The Moscow city police department said that the motor campaign involved several groups of up to 100 vehicles with protest symbols and another 50 vehicles without such.
The police called provocative the conduct of certain campaign participants. “Vehicles without protest symbols create traffic impediment. As a result, long traffic jams have formed in several sections of the Garden Ring,” the police said, adding that measures were being taken to normalize traffic.
The action organizers said that approximately 1,000 vehicles were taking part in it. The vehicles are decorated with white ribbons and balloons and carry anti-governmental slogans. Pedestrians welcome them.
There was no place set to start the action, and the organizers did not coordinate the action with the city authorities.