Yuri Luzhkov Suggests Dispersing Crowd Preventively
The procedure for conducting mass rallies in Moscow might be drastically hardened. Moscow City Duma deputies yesterday approved the legal amendments introduced by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov. These amendments allow to prohibit rallies near historic monuments, introduce stiff rules of “the territory’s maximum permissible occupancy” (no more than 2 people per one square meter), and oblige to coordinate other meetings with the Mayor’s Office. The opposition called it “the funeral of democracy” and said that adopting the law will "lead to a civil war”.
The draft bill introduced by Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzhkov sets far stricter limitations for mass rallies than the federal law. The latter prohibits to conduct public events only on territories of “dangerous production facilities”, in courts and prisons, presidential residences, on viaducts, gas pipelines, oil pipelines, railway tracks, and in “frontier zone”.
The federal law does not ban rallies in historic places. On the contrary, Luzhkov’s law prohibits holding rallies near historic sites. However, rallies in Moscow take place mostly in historic places, for instance, in Novopushkinsky mini-park by Pushkin monument, on Slavyanskaya Square by Cyril and Mefody monument, on Teatralnaya Square by Karl Marx monument, and on Triumfalnaya Square by Mayakovsky monument.
The restrictions for public events suggested by the Mayor’s Office caused a stormy discussion in the City Duma. Consequently, the draft bill was revoked for the mayor’s conclusion. Luzhkov can add new amendments and return the document to the City Duma.
Deputy Vadim Solovyev, head of the legal service at the Communist Party’s central committee, called Luzhkov’s law the “direct violation of the Constitution and the federal law”. He promised that his party will appeal against the bill to the Supreme Court, if it is passed by the City Duma.
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All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 01, 2007
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