St PETERSBURG, July 19 (Itar-Tass) - Verified information from the Interior agencies says the number of people, whom the police detained Thursday night during a “people’s gathering” in downtown St Petersburg, was 56.
Thursday’s reports said the police detained about forty protesters, who had come to Malaya Sadovaya mall to express support for the leader of Russia’s off-parliament opposition Alexei Navalny. Earlier on the same day, a court in the city of Kirov sentenced the man to five years in jail for ostensible property embezzlements in a local timber company.
“Administrative protocols were filled out on each detained person for the failure to obey to the police and for encroachments on law and order during public functions,” a spokesman for the St Petersburg Main Department of the Interior told Itar-Tass.
Districts courts across the city began first hearings on the administrative cases Thursday.
Data from official organizations says about 500 people joined the protest action on Malaya Sadovaya but eyewitness reports spoke of no less than a thousand participants.
Last week, the St Petersburg city administration turned down a request from the off-parliament opposition forces to authorize a rally in Alexei Navalny’s support on Konyushennaya Square.