About 1000 people gathered on Saturday, April 6, in downtown Moscow in support of those arrested over last year’s clashes on Moscow’s Bolotnaya Square.

      Moscow police says about 600 people took part in the rally, not including over 100 journalists and bloggers attending the event. Opposition leaders put the figure at 1,500 people.

      Members of various opposition movements, including the Left Front, Solidarity and the December 5 Party took part in the sanctioned rally in Moscow's Novopushkinsky public garden. The activists were holding banners with portraits of those detained over the May 6 riots on Bolotnaya Square in central Moscow. About 27 people are currently named defendants in so-called “Bolotnaya case”, facing charges ranging from inciting mass unrest to using violent force against law enforcement officials.

      Another 150 people attended a parallel rally in St. Petersburg on Saturday in support of the May 6 defendants, local police reports. Both rallies ended peacefully.