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St.Petersburg authorizes route for opposition march on December 15

The organizers put the expected number of participants at around 5,000

ST.PETERSBURG, December 11 (Itar-Tass) — The city administration of St.Petersburg has authorized an opposition march called "March of Freedom" which was scheduled for December 15, one of the organizers of the protest march and member of the Coordination Council of the Opposition (KSO) Andrei Pivovarov told Itar-Tass on Tuesday. The march will start from Gorkovskaya metro and will follow as far as Marsovo Pole. The organizers put the expected number of participants at around 5,000.

The march will be held in the framework of a similar act organized by the KSO in Moscow and other big cities. Participants in the St.Petersburg march will use slogans similar to the slogans proclaimed in Moscow, but unlike Moscow, the organizers of the St.Petersburg march are planning to fully give up political symbols with only the Russian state flag and the city flag of St. Petersburg authorized for use.

"We will finally be able to remove the problem of political symbols" Pivovarov said. "Earlier, party flags displayed by different parties during acts held in a general civil format had often aroused conflicts among the opposition activists," Pivovarov said. All the opposition organizations of the city were invited to join the march, Pivovarov added.

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