The rally organized by the Different Russia movement in St. Petersburg Saturday was its first without police violence since the launch last December of a series of Dissenters' Marches, intended to protest authorities' alleged attempts to stifle democracy.
The demonstration in Russia's second city was held against the backdrop of a high-profile international business forum, and some analysts explain the unusual police restraint by authorities' unwillingness to tarnish the country's image with foreign investors.
The Kremlin drew harsh criticism from the West last month when police dispersed a similar rally in the Volga city of Samara during a Russia-EU summit there. Former chess champion Garry Kasparov and other Different Russia leaders
were then detained in a Moscow airport to keep them from attending.
