Moskalkova views police's actions at Sunday's opposition rallies as appropriate, professional
MOSCOW. Jan 29 (Interfax) - Russian Human Rights Commissioner Tatyana Moskalkova has noted the police's appropriate actions during protest rallies that took place in Russia on Sunday.
"Despite the fact that the rallies of 'voters' strikes' were unauthorized in Moscow and St. Petersburg, the Russian human rights commissioner has not received any complaints and reports during them. Tatyana Moskalkova especially noted the appropriate and professional behavior of law enforcement officials during these rallies," the ombudsman's press service said.
Rallies of supporters of opposition activist Alexei Navalny were held in Russian cities on Sunday. According to the Russian Interior Ministry, there were no gross violations in 46 constituent entities of the Russian Federation. According to the ministry's press service, a total of 150 persons participated in rallies in Barnaul, Khabarovsk, and Kemerovo each. No more than 100 people participated in rallies in Magnitogorsk, Orenburg, and Kurgan, while about 200 persons in those held in Krasnoyarsk, Tomsk, Vladivostok, and Irkutsk. A total of 600 gathered for a rally in Novosibirsk and 500 in Nizhny Novgorod. Less than a thousand persons attended the rally in Yekaterinburg as well. The mass rallies with participation of dozens of people also took place in other cities of Russia. About 1,000 people participated in the unauthorized rally in Moscow, the ministry said.