Augusta Dels, please give us your view of what you are seeing or reading in the media about the recent protests in Moscow and St. Petersburg.

Arija, I’ll answer.

1. It is not the first protest under the same slogan. They’ve been holding protests every month with 31 days because they’re supporting Article 31 of the Russian Constitution that guarantees “the right to assemble peacefully, without weapons, hold rallies, meetings and demonstrations, marches and pickets.”

2. This time, the protest attracted the most people - 500 people. And the Moscow authorities didn’t allow it, saying that another event was supposed to take place on that square.

3. The next protest is supposed to take place on March 31.

Thank you for clearing things up.  I didn’t know this has been an ongoing thing. The internet news only had a short byline and our paper almost zip. It’s nice that there are concerned folks who are testing the authorities to see if their Constitution has any validity.