LOCAL

■  MOSCOW, (RIA Novosti) - Visitors to central Moscow are advised to be careful on Sunday afternoon (Dec 14) due to an illegal political demonstration due to take place on Tverskaya Ulitsa.

The Other Russia opposition group was denied permission to rally at Triumfalnaya Ploschad (M Mayakovskaya) and asked to stage its march on Tarasa Shevchenko embankment or Bolotnaya Ploschad instead.

However, Eduard Limonov, leader of the banned National Bolshevik Party, insists that the demonstration can only be held in the city center - despite the fact that doing so will break the law.

"We argued that a street demonstration is about our desire to show other people how we feel, and there would be no other people to see our demonstration in those places [suggested by the city authorities]," he said. Limonov added that the march would go ahead as planned, and the group intended to follow a route along Tverskaya to Teatralnaya Ploschad. City officials have rejected this route because they say it would cause too much disruption to traffic, and urged an alternative route.

"We hope that the organizers will confirm the event at Tarasa Shev­chenko or Bolotnaya Ploschad not less than three days in advance," said a spokes­man for the mayor's office. "Otherwise, any attempts to organize a rally will be regarded as a violation of the law."

The Other Russia, which also includes former chess champion Garry Kasparov's United Civil Front, has held regular ‘March of Dissent' gatherings in Moscow, St Petersburg and other cities in recent years.