Dozens of balloons in the colors of the Russian flag took to the sky in London on Sunday during a rally defending Russia's much-abused Constitution.
Several Russian expats gathered outside the Russian Embassy in Kensington Palace Gardens today to demand the return of popular elections for provincial governors and a fair verdict for jailed tycoon Mikhail Khodorkovsky, which is due on December 15.
Khodorkovsky and his business partner Platon Lebedev could spend another six years in jail after their current sentences expire in October 2011 if convicted on fresh embezzlement charges.
"It may be naive but if we all stand together and demand that our rights be observed, we will see to it that the Constitution is working," Andrei Sidelnikov, organizer of the London rally, said.
At the end of the rally, protesters glued stickers with their demands onto a bundle of balloons and then released them into the sky. "Towards Moscow," Sidelnikov said.
December 12 is Constitution Day in Russia.
LONDON, December 12 (RIA Novosti)
