You're reading: Update: 2,000 rally in Moscow, demand freedom of assembly

MOSCOW (AP) — Nearly 2,000 people gathered in central Moscow on Sunday demanding freedom of assembly in a rare sanctioned rally.

The Russian opposition protests on the 31st day of each month are a nod to the 31st Article of the Russian constitution, which guarantees the right of assembly.

Opposition activists gathered to protest in two separate rallies Sunday after Moscow City Hall gave a rare approval for the rally but placed a cap on the number of participants at 1,000 people, down from the requested 1,500.

Supporters of veteran rights activist and chairman of the Moscow Helsinki Group Lyudmila Alexeyeva agreed to the limit. But rally co-organizer Eduard Limonov slammed the decision as a "betrayal."

Limonov’s supporters rallied Sunday, separated from Alexeyeva by a police cordon. Police later allowed them to merge with the sanctioned protest.

"Authorities have shown respect for the law for the first time," Sergei Udaltsov, leader of the anti-Kremlin Left Front movement, said as he moved to join Alexeyeva’s rally "It’s a big victory for the opposition."

Uncharacteristically for such protests, there were no reports of police violence.

Popular support for vocal opposition groups is minimal in Russia, and their activities have been thwarted in regions like Moscow, where authorities ban their rallies and police regularly break up their gatherings.

THE FOLLOWING IS REUTERS ACCOUNT OF THE PROTESTS

MOSCOW, Oct 31 (Reuters) – Over a thousand anti-government protesters were allowed to rally on Sunday in Moscow’s central Triumph Square for the first time in years as authorities granted their opponents a moment to air their grievances.

Though veteran human rights defender Lyudmila Alexeyeva was granted permission by authorities to hold a rally for 800 people, scores of armed police stood by as the square filled up with more people than allowed, many of them chanting "Russia without (Prime Minister Vladimir) Putin!"

"We are holding this protest to uphold our constitutional rights. This is no longer the Soviet Union," Alexeyeva, a Soviet-era dissident, told a jubilant crowd.

Opposition attempts to hold monthly rallies on the square, which lies on the city’s main shopping street, have become a barometer of the Kremlin’s willingness to tolerate dissent. Police have broken up a dozen rallies and detained protesters.

Alexeyeva hailed Sunday’s rally as "a small victory".

To the side of the square, a much smaller protest of around 200 and organised by fierce Kremlin critic Eduard Limonov formed, which had not been granted permission to rally.

Riot police detained at least seven protesters from that rally, a Reuters witness said.

For over a year, Russia’s marginalised opposition have been convening on Triumph square on the 31st of each month symbolising the right to free assembly guaranteed in Article 31 of Russia’s constitution.

PETERSBURG, VLADIVOSTOK

Alexeyeva said the opposition was still far from sated, referring to an August decision by Moscow authorities to rail off most of the square for an underground parking garage, a move widely seen by analysts as an attempt to weaken the opposition by taking away their traditional place of protest.

President Dmitry Medvedev, who styles himself as more liberal than his mentor Putin, last month dismissed Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov after 18 years in power. He was replaced by longtime Putin ally Sergei Sobyanin.

Medvedev has repeatedly called for more democracy and engagement with civil society in Russia since taking office two years ago as Putin’s anointed successor, but human rights groups and diplomats say little has changed.

"Putin has totally violated the rights of citizens who belong to this state," said opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, a deputy prime minister under former president Boris Yeltsin.

A trio of elderly women donned masks of Putin and held up baseball bats with "31" written on them.

"Putin is simply against the people of Russia. He is corrupt and has established legal banditry in Russia," said musician Olga, one of the three.

In Russia’s second city Saint Petersburg, 70 people were detained by police at two protests totalling 300 that were not given permission, according to a Reuters witness.

But in the Far Eastern port city of Vladivostok, police did not intervene when around 40 opposition supporters gathered in the centre and held signs saying "31" and pages of the Russian Constitution.

"We are here to support our allies in Moscow on Triumph Square, who get regularly beaten and detained by police," said activist Alexander Kurov.

(Reporting by Amie Ferris-Rotman in Moscow, Denis Pinchuk in St Petersburg and Alexei Chernyshov in Vladivostok; editing by Ralph Boulton)