Russian opposition and human rights groups on Thursday filed separate applications to hold rallies in the same location on December 31.
"Today, I have filed an application for a 1,500-strong rally on Triumfalnaya Square on December 31," Moscow Helsinki Group head Lyudmila Alexeyeva said on Thursday.
Opposition groups led by Eduard Limonov, head of the Another Russia party, applied to stage a 2,500-strong rally on the square, the protesters' favored site.
Opposition figures had earlier met with Alexeyeva and proposed they file jointly, but she refused.
She has previously said she would not join the opposition rally over Limonov's controversial comments regarding the approved October 31 protest.
Limonov "hates rallies that have been approved by the authorities," Alexeyeva quoted him as saying on her blog.
She said most of Moscow's rights activists had accepted the conditions set by the Moscow city government for rallying on Triumfalnaya Square.
For more than a year, protesters have attempted to hold rallies there on the last day of every month that has 31 days to demand that the government respect Article 31 of the Russian Constitution, which guarantees freedom of assembly.
Requests to hold the rallies were invariably turned down by former Moscow Mayor Yury Luzhkov, who was dismissed by President Dmitry Medvedev in September. Current Mayor Sergei Sobyanin sanctioned October's rally, but only gave permission for 800 activists to take part, instead of the requested 1,500.
Limonov insists that under current regulations, no formal permission is needed and that the authorities only need to be notified about an upcoming event in advance.
MOSCOW, December 16 (RIA Novosti)
