ST. PETERSBURG, June 9 (RIA Novosti) - A March of Dissent, led by Kremlin critics Garry Kasparov and Eduard Limonov, has blocked traffic in the center of St. Petersburg Saturday as delegates meet for a major economic forum.
Officials said about 400 dissenters have been allowed to march down sidewalks, but not streets, to reach the site of a planned rally. As a result, no measures have been taken to reroute traffic.
The march, organized by liberal parties such as Grigory Yavlinsky's Yabloko and Kasparov's United Civil Front, and by the neo-leftist Red Youth Vanguard close to Limonov, was accompanied by 170 reporters.
According to the plan, the rally is to end at 8:00 p.m. Moscow time (4:00 p.m. GMT).
Similar Marches of Dissent have previously been held in St. Petersburg, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, and, most recently, Samara during the Russia-EU summit.