Photofact: White-red-white flags on March for Freedom in Moscow

Thousands of people in the Russian capital took to the streets for a rally of solidarity with political prisoners.

Banned Belarusian flags were noticed in the column. Belarusians who live in Moscow took part in the rally.

The March for Freedom was held in the centre of the Russian capital to support the Bolotnaya prisoners and other political prisoners. The Moscow authorities permitted to have a 20,000-strong rally, RFE/RL reports.

The rally was organised by the Committee for Protest Actions and the May 6 Committee. Protesters walked from Pushkin Square along Strastnoy, Petrovsky, Rozhdestvensky, Sretenski boulevards to the crossroads of the Turgenevskaya Square with Academician Sakharov Avenue.

Protesters had portraits of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, Maria Alyokhina and prisoners of the Bolotnaya Square case. Supporters of former mayor of Yaroslavl Yevgeny Urlashov formed a separate column. Supporters of the Solidarity movement, the RPR PARNAS and Yabloko parties were noticed in the column.

About 3,000 police officers, internal troops servicemen and voluntary police assistants controlled the order assisted by a police helicopter in the air, ITAR TASS reports. People had to pass through 40 metal detectors to attend the rally. The traffic was restricted due to the march.