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Opposition faction walks out as parliament votes for amended rallies bills

"Learn parliamentary culture," Mironov said addressing United Russia, "A Just Russia faction is leaving the session hall in protest"

MOSCOW, June 6 (Itar-Tass) — The State Duma lower house of the Russian parliament approved the 2nd and 3rd reading of the bill envisioning large fines for violations at rallies, in a marathon ten-hour session that ended just before midnight on Tuesday.

The discussion of the controversial legislation was held in the work-by-rule mode as the Opposition tried to delay the passage by hundreds of worthless amendments. The parliament voted for the bill 241-147.

"You ought to be ashamed when the procedure and common since are tramped upon at the State Duma and there is absolute disrespect for our people. It's a spit towards our people ahead of Day of Russia. Your easy and free manipulation of the parliament procedure is amazing. You've hurt very many citizens of our country today. Tomorrow is A.S. Pushkin's birthday. At one point he was sorry not to have been together with the Decembrists in Senate Square, and today, he would have been with the people, not with you," A Just Russia leader Sergei Mironov said.

"Learn parliamentary culture," Mironov said addressing United Russia, "A Just Russia faction is leaving the session hall in protest."

Initially, the bill, drawn by a group of United Russia lawmakers led by Alexander Sidyakin, proposed up to 1.5-million-rouble fines for violations during public events. After debates, the sum was reduced to 300,000 roubles for ordinary citizens and 600,000 roubles for officials.

The State Duma is introducing differentiated sanctions for violating the established procedure for organizing or holding a rally. Following are some of the amendments.

The organizers' violating the established procedure for rallies is punished by a fine of 10,000 to 20,000 roubles or 40 hours of community work, the fine for officials ranges between 15,000 and 30,000 roubles, while for legal entities it is between 50,000 and 100,000 roubles.

The fines for holding public events without due notification are 20,000 to 30,000 roubles or up to 50 hours of community work for citizens, 20,000 to 40,000 roubles for officials and 70,000 to 200,000 roubles for legal entities.

If the organizers' actions inconvenienced pedestrians or blocked traffic, required additional police personnel and equipment, or exceed the people's density norm in a given area, citizens will be fined 30,000 to 50,000 roubles or up to 100 hours of community work, officials 50,000 to 100,000 roubles and legal entities 250,000 to 500,000 roubles.

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