A meeting of Russian lawmakers and voters to support jailed opposition leader Sergei Udaltsov was held without incident, said meeting organizer Ilya Ponomaryov, a State Duma deputy from the Just Russia party.
The Moscow authorities had banned a rally to support Udaltsov, who is the leader of the Leftist Front movement. In response, Ponomarev organized the meeting with the electorate. State Duma deputies from the Communist Party Alexander Yushchenko and Oleg Smolin and Moscow Duma Communist deputy Andrei Klychkov participated in the meeting. Several hundred members of the public gathered to meet them on Pushkinskaya Square.
“The meeting is over. There were no incidents. The police behaved very well,” Ponomarev said.
The attendees have left the square and no detentions took place, he said.
Udaltsov was arrested on December 4 for not serving out the full term of his previous administrative detention and escaping from hospital. He went on a hunger strike in protest and was twice hospitalized during his detention. After his term was extended, he was taken to hospital again.
