Members of a committee formed to support those arrested for violent clashes with police at a May 6 opposition rally are planning countrywide protests on July 26, media reports said Monday.
"A huge event is planned for July 26, a rally and march in Moscow as well as events in other cities. If we can manage it, the event will happen all over the world. We have already had responses from Europe — this won't only be a Russian event," Sergei Davidis, a member of the May 6 Committee and an opposition activist with the Solidarity movement, told Interfax.
Organizers of the Moscow protest may have to settle for a rally, rather than a combined march and rally, due to tough protest rules passed early last month, Davidis said.
The May 6 Committee is made up of members of the unregistered Other Russia party and representatives of the Solidarity, Occupy Moscow, Autonomous Action, Left Front and White Ribbon movements.
At the planned July 26 protest in Moscow, Davidis said organizers would seek to support those facing criminal prosecution for violence on Bolotnaya Ploshchad, adding that the committee is ready to offer legal and financial help to those who have been detained.
Police have so far arrested 13 suspects on charges of inciting riots and assaulting authorities during the Bolotnaya protest.
Opposition activists claim police provoked the violence after disrupting the protest march and rally, the route and terms of which were sanctioned by authorities.
