Police arrested 12 people for a breach of the peace at a protest rally in central Moscow on Wednesday evening.
Police said some 50 people attended the Strategy-31 rally at Moscow’s Triumfalnaya Square. They also said the protest was covered by “100 journalists and bloggers.”
Russian opposition groups rally in downtown Moscow on the last day of each month that has 31 days in defense of their right to freedom of assembly, as enshrined in Article 31 of the Russian Constitution. Tuesday’s Strategy-31 rally was not sanctioned by the authorities.
Police earlier called on the protesters to scarp their rally as it could “irritate” parents preparing to send their children to school on Thursday, the start of the new academic year in Russia.