MOSCOW, March 13. /TASS/. Police have detained about 200 people who tried to organize a forum at a hotel in uptown Moscow, violating epidemiological requirements.

"In one of the hotel buildings in Izmaylovakoye Shosse Avenue, a group of citizens - representatives of a public organization - attempted to hold a public gathering breaching sanitary and epidemiological regulations, as most of the participants did not have means of personal protection. Apart from that, among the participants were spotted members of an organization which is declared undesirable in the Russian Federation," Moscow’s police press service told TASS on Saturday.

"About 200 people were taken to local police precincts," they added.

Police have averted unlawful activities. Inquiries are underway.

Earlier, Marina Litvinovich, a member of Moscow’s Public Monitoring Commission, told TASS that 170 participants of the United Democrats congress had been detained in accordance with Article 20.33 of Russia’s Code of Administrative Offences (conducting the activities of a foreign NGO declared undesirable in Russia). Under the article, a violator faces a fine of 5,000 to 15,000 rubles (about $68 to $205).

On Saturday, police detained members of the United Democrats forum in Moscow. Among them are Moscow’s municipal council members Ilya Yashin and Yulia Galyamina, politician Vladimir Kara-Murza, former Yekaterinburg Mayor Yevgeny Roizman, and St. Petersburg’s city council member Maksim Reznik.