Around 28,000 attending Moscow anti-Putin protest: police

MOSCOW: Around 28,000 turned out Saturday for an opposition rally in Moscow to protest allegedly rigged elections, in a new challenge to Vladimir Putin’s domination of Russia, police said.

“Some 28,000 people have attended the meeting, according to official information,” Moscow police said in a statement.

However the numbers could be as high as 40,000 with protestors filling the avenue in Moscow that had been closed off to traffic for the protest.

Over 50,000 people had vowed on Facebook to attend the protest, which follows a similar mass action on December 10.