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City Hall Rejects Request for Strategy 31 Rally

The Mayor's Office turned down the latest request by protesters to hold a Strategy 31 rally on Triumfalnaya Ploshchad on March 31, the head of the city's regional safety department said Wednesday.

Alexei Maiorov told RIA-Novosti that the request had been denied because the event's organizers previously violated the law on holding public rallies, thus prohibiting them from holding such rallies in the future in accordance with legislation on public events amended last summer.

City authorities used the same argument previously when denying such requests.

Other Russia leader Eduard Limonov and activists Konstantin Kosyakin, Vladimir Bukovsky and Lolita Tsariya submitted the request.

Strategy 31 rallies have been held since 2009 on the 31st day of each month with 31 days. The rallies are held in support of the Constitution's Article 31, which grants the right to free assembly.

The rallies have never received permission from City Hall and are often broken up with a series of arrests.

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