Demonstrators marched down Prospekt Sakharova street to show solidarity with the journalist whose arrest on 6 June triggered a massive backlash. The rally was authorised by Moscow city hall. There was heavy police presence and the street was cordoned off, a Sputnik correspondent said.
The rally wrapped up in the early afternoon. Protesters adopted a resolution that called on Moscow police to carry out a thorough probe into Golunov's case and review sentences passed on other journalists and right activists.
Russia's Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said on Tuesday that drug charges against Golunov, a freelance journalist arrested earlier this month, have been dropped because of a lack of proof.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday dismissed two senior Moscow police officials, Gen. Andrei Puchkov and Gen. Yuri Devyatkin, who were involved in the probe.