3,000 Rally on Pushkin Square

Rock musician Yury Shevchuk performing at the rally on Pushkin Square on Aug. 22. More than 3,000 people pressed into the square to denounce plans to cut down part of a centuries-old forest in Khimki. Many also assailed Prime Minister Vladimir Putin.

Protesters filling Pushkin Square, even the steps of the Rossiya cinema. City Hall allowed the rally, but not a formal concert that organizers had wanted to stage, in a rare authorization of an opposition event.

People pushing up against a police barrier on the square. The square itself was cordoned off, and those who entered it had to pass through metal detectors.

Though police officers arrested three opposition leaders in connection with a different rally the same day, they offered protection to Yury Shevchuk on Pushkin Square. Here, an officer communicating via headset as he stands next to Shevchuk.

The officer escorting Shevchuk through the massive crowd.

Legendary rock critic Artemy Troitsky talking to people at the rally. He was the host of the rally, dubbed "We All Live in the Khimki Forest!"

Yevgenia Chirikova, an activist and leader in the movement to stop the Khimki deforestation, having a laugh at the rally. Both local and federal authorities have greenlighted the razing of part of the oak forest to make way for an $8 billion highway to St. Petersburg.

A police officer, in red-banded cap, speaking with Yury Shevchuk, second from right. Between them are Troitsky and Chirikova. Police blocked other bands and singers from entering the square and performing.

Troitsky addressing the rally through a megaphone as Shevchuk, who is the frontman for rock group DDT, stands at his side.

A protester wearing a homemade placard that reads, in yellow and black, "Scat, demon - it's our forest!"

Protesters holding up a banner reading "Free the Khimki Hostages," which probably refers to two men arrested for a July attack on the Khimki town administration building.

Shevchuk presenting at the rally. He stood on an improvised stage that was on a truck.

Rallygoers standing near the bronze statue of Russian poet and iconoclast Alexander Pushkin.

Posters urging Sergei Mokhnatkin's release. Mokhnatkin was sentenced to 2 1/2 years in jail this August after allegedly headbutting a police officer.