MOSCOW, May 11 - RAPSI. A United Russia deputy has submitted a draft law to the State Duma raising the maximum fine for breaching the law on public rallies from $30-90 to $50,000 for both participants and organizers.
"Recently we have been seeing that organizers of protests urge people more and more towards violating the law during public demonstrations," the parliamentarian told journalists.
In his view, street rallies disturb people's leisure time, restrict their freedom of travel and cause damage to the city.
If a court deems the damage inflicted by rally organizers and participants serious enough, the fine may exceed $30,000. Those funds will then go towards clearing up the aftermath of the protests.
On Sunday, an opposition march was held in Moscow which was planned to finish up with a rally. However, some of the protesters deviated from the route and attempted to break through the police cordon to reach the Kremlin. More than 450 people were detained by the police for unlawful conduct and tens of police officers were injured.