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No violations reported during opposition action in downtown Moscow - police

About 40,000 Facebook users have confirmed their participation in Monday’s rally

MOSCOW, May 5 (Itar-Tass) - No serious violations were reported during the opposition action in downtown Moscow on Sunday, a spokesman for the Moscow police department told Itar-Tass.

“A rally in Bolotnaya Square is over. There were no emergencies or serious violations,” the spokesman said. There were not more than 50 people by the end of the rally.

Before the rally, opposition activists marched down from Kaluzhskaya Square along Bolshaya Yakimanka Street. Police say there were about 400 participants. About 100 journalists and bloggers were present too.

The action was organized by the opposition expert council made up of former candidates for membership in the opposition coordinating council who failed to be admitted there at the elections in the autumn of 2012.

A bigger opposition action in Bolotnaya Square is expected to take place on Monday, May 6. It is timed to mark a year’s anniversary of the May 6 events in 2012, when an opposition rally ended in clashes with the police in Bolotnaya Square. As a result, a criminal case was opened on charges of mass riots. About 30 people were brought to responsibility, some of them are still behind bars.

About 40,000 Facebook users have confirmed their participation in Monday’s rally.

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